Channel 9 has apologised to Latrell Mitchell after an image of the footy star was shown while an alleged murder was described on screen.
Georgie Gardner was reading out a story about tradie Ashley Gaddie, who is charged with murdering teacher Danielle Finlay-Jones, when the Rabbitohs player’s picture was broadcast.
Mitchell has nothing to do with Gaddie or Ms Finlay-Jones.
There was news about Mitchell on the program, however it concerned the star and Cody Mitchell signing new long-term deals with the club.
Towards the end of the 6pm bulletin, Gardner apologised to Mitchell.
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“At the beginning of our bulletin tonight we had a technical issue which led to an image of Latrell Mitchell being shown while we were previewing our lead story,” she said.
“We have spoken to Souths and Latrell Mitchell’s management and apologised for the error”.
Gaddie, 33, was on Wednesday morning charged with the murder of Ms Finlay-Jones, who was found dead at her friend’s home in western Sydney on Sunday afternoon.
Gaddie and Ms Finlay-Jones, 31, spent Saturday night at a Cranebrook home belonging to two of the woman’s friends before he left in the morning, according to police allegations.
Her friends, who thought the couple was enjoying a sleep in, only discovered she had been lying in bed alone with horrific head injuries when they checked in on her at 2.30pm on Sunday.
Emergency services were called to the scene, but the teacher was unable to be revived.
After three days of investigations by specialist officers, Gaddie was arrested just after midnight on Wednesday morning following a police operation in Wentworth Falls.
Police cornered him on Tuesday afternoon at Fletcher’s Lookout, where he was standing on the cliff edge.
“Police negotiators attended and engaged the man in conversation, before he was arrested about 12am (on Wednesday),” a statement from NSW Police said.
Gaddie was taken to Katoomba Police Station and charged with murder.
On Wednesday afternoon, Penrith Local Court heard the 33-year-old “was intent not to appear on screen” in the courtroom.
Police made an application for a forensic swab to be taken, which was opposed by Gaddie’s lawyer Declan Ormachea.
Although the tradie’s consent was not given, the court heard a DNA swab will be taken to preserve the “transient” nature of the sample.
The court heard it will be a matter of debate whether the forensic evidence will be admissible in court.
The matter will be heard in the new year during a defended argument.
Gaddie did not apply to be released from police custody.
He will remain behind bars on remand until his next court appearance on March 3.