Bird awaits fate in 'glassing' case

The prosecution called their story "a fairytale", the defence said it was
"hairbrained" but former NRL star Greg Bird has been made to wait to find out what
the judge thinks.

Bird and his American girlfriend Katie Milligan will learn on Wednesday morning
whether he will be forced to serve a minimum eight-month prison term for smashing a
glass into her face, or if a judge believes the couple's claim it was all an
accident.
Ms Milligan suffered a broken eye socket and cuts to her eye during an altercation
at the rugby league player's Cronulla flat in August last year.
The former Cronulla Shark and Australian representative was sentenced in June to a
maximum of 16 months' jail after being found guilty of reckless wounding.
Bird, who now plays for French club Catalans Dragons in Europe's Super League, was
granted bail immediately after lodging an appeal the same day.
After refusing to give a statement to police at the time of the incident, and
refusing to appear as witnesses in their own defence in the local court, Ms Milligan
and Bird both took the stand at his appeal hearing in Sydney this week to explain
their version of how she sustained her injuries.
Both blamed Ms Milligan's drug use and aggression for the fight, which she told the
Downing Centre District Court she started.
She told the court during the fight she "lunged" at Bird with a water glass as he
took a "defensive position" and tried to grab her wrists.
Neither could explain how the glass broke, only that Ms Milligan fell to the floor
clutching her eye.
Bird tried to convince Ms Milligan to tell the truth - that it had been an accident
- but Ms Milligan did not think anyone would believe Bird had not been involved and
wanted to save his reputation, they said.
"I didn't believe anybody would believe it was an accident - here's a guy who
everyone wants to believe is an aggressive footballer," Ms Milligan has told the
court.
"I didn't want his name associated with it in any way."
Initially the pair told hospital staff their flatmate Brent Watson caused the
injuries by throwing the glass at Ms Milligan, but it turned out he was not at home
at the time of the incident.
On Tuesday, Ms Milligan told the court that as well as trying to exculpate Bird, she
had told nurses that story in order to expedite her treatment.
"I wanted them to know there was glass in my eyeball - not that I tripped and fell
on something and there may or may not be glass," she said.
"Why didn't you just say 'I have glass in my eye'?", Peter Stanhope for the Director
of Public Prosecutions asked.
"I did ... I felt that they were not showing sufficient urgency about the injury,"
Ms Milligan replied, adding that she thought if nurses believed it to be an
accident, they would take "their leisurely time in treating me".
During final submissions, Mr Stanhope said the pair had concocted a "fairytale" to
try to save Bird's career.
"Their evidence was so dovetailed, it was schooled, concocted - they got their heads
together and that's the evidence that they claimed," he said.
Bird's barrister, Bret Walker SC, said the pair's conduct had been "hairbrained,
deplorable, reprehensible and lying", but it did not point to his guilt.
"These are not the actions of two young, wise and worldly people," he said.
Judge Michael Finnane is expected to hand down his decision at 10am (AEDT) on
Wednesday.