ABC's Four Corners has revealed that a former Cronulla Sharks player tipped off the program to the Matthew Johns group sex scandal which has since rocked the NRL.
The television program released a statement last night about its source, saying: "Two months ago, after we had begun researching a story on rugby league, one of the members of the Cronulla Sharks tour to New Zealand told Four Corners about the events in Christchurch."
Four Corners said it released the statement to answer a number of issues which had arisen in response to its story.
The statement included a plea from the New Zealand woman at the centre of the 2002 incident, identified only as "Clare", who is in hiding "living in a nightmare" after her revelations.
Johns' media and NRL coaching career is in tatters after the Four Corners program last week aired new details of the group sex incident in New Zealand while he was playing for the Cronulla Sharks.
Johns was one of several Cronulla players involved in a group sex act involving a 19-year-old woman in Christchurch.
Watch ACA's exclusive interview with Matthew Johns and wife Trish:
Part one | Part two | Part three
The Four Corners statement said Clare was distressed after the media response towards her after the program.
"I am being harassed in the most awful ways and what is being reported by journalists is horrible and untrue," the ABC statement reported Clare as saying.
"They have got people speaking of me that are not my friends or people I have never met.
"It feels like I am living in a nightmare. All I wanted to do was to make people aware of the culture and stop it happening to other girls."
At the time, New Zealand police investigated the woman's claims that the sex was not consensual, but all the players were cleared of any wrongdoing.
See what ninemsn readers had to say
NZ police have since said they will not re-open the investigation, saying there is no new information.
Four Corners said the program's focus was to show the "role of group sex in rugby league culture and the consequences for the woman involved", not any criminality or consent issues.
The program said Clare was not paid for the interview and had not boasted about "fallout" from the story.
"Payment is contrary to ABC Editorial guidelines. Her only requirement was that we protect her identity," it said.
"She is in hiding from the media, and has made no comment about the consequences of the story for others."
Front page
RSS Feed