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Cape Town - Former rugby player Leon van der Wath, who head-butted a woman in a bar, says she provoked him by making rude remarks about his mother.
According to Netwerk24, Van der Wath, 49, admitted guilt in the magistrate’s court this week.
He stands accused of assault after he head-butted 39-year-old Cornelia (Riekie) Cloete, a business woman and cancer sufferer.
The incident, which took place at Rhoda’s Pub in Bloemfontein on April 8, was captured on the bar’s CCTV cameras.
Van der Wath, who played provincial rugby for Free State and Griquas in the 1990s, said Cloete at one point grabbed him around the neck.
“I requested that she leave me alone and go and go talk nonsense somewhere else. She took a backwards step and insulted me be swearing about my mother’s private parts.”
According to Van der Wath, he had a tough upbringing and his late mother was everything in his life.
According to Cloete, Van der Wath spoke in a rude manner to a female bartender. She then told him his behaviour was not appropriate, before he head-butted her.
Her eyes are still swollen and she needs to undergo further scans to determine more possible damage.
She is considering a civil claim.
