The Losi Filipo case sends a tough message to teenagers wanting the courts to take into account how a conviction will damage their prospects, a law lecturer says.
Losi Filipo Photo: Wellington Lions
The former representative Wellington rugby player was discharged without conviction for a serious assault, but that decision has now been set aside by the High Court.
It ruled that among other errors, the District Court judge put too much stress on how a conviction would damage Mr Filipo's rugby career, when it could not be clear what a young player's prospects even were.
Otago University law lecturer Marcelo Rodriguez Ferrere said that should be sobering for teenagers facing court.
"That is the take-home message exactly. Dreams aren't sufficient to justify a conviction not being entered," he said.
"And if it needs to be, sort of, concretised as a clear risk it's going to put a real difficult burden on those teenage offenders to actually show what consequences they're going to face."