A kiss in case or Bird's get-out-of-jail card?

PETER RAE/Sydney Morning Herald

TENDER MOMENT: Katie Milligan and Greg Bird kiss as they arrive at a Sydney court.

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They say girls should never kiss and tell. But that is exactly what Katie Milligan has done for the past two days in an attempt to save her boyfriend from jail.

Judge Michael Finnane of the District Court will decide today whether Greg Bird has to serve the minimum eight-month sentence imposed in June for recklessly wounding Ms Milligan during an argument at their Cronulla apartment in August last year. He will scrutinise her evidence and determine her credibility as a witness.

She has admitted to lying to protect her boyfriend's reputation as a high-profile rugby league player.

In telling her version of events, Ms Milligan has put a lot on the line, including her fledgling legal career. She has admitted to falsely blaming Bird's friend, Brent Watson, for throwing a glass in her face and has told the court about misusing her ADHD medication for recreational use.

During cross-examination yesterday, Ms Milligan, a paralegal, said she had not made herself available as a witness when Bird's case first went to hearing as she had been advised she may be opening herself up to prosecution for making a false statement.

''Considering my legal aspirations I took that heavily under consideration,'' she said.

Even Bret Walker, SC, counsel for Bird, described claims about Mr Watson's involvement in the assault as ''hare-brained, deplorable, reprehensible lying''.

But he told the court the two had been telling the truth in evidence to the court that it was all just an accident.

''This case has been affected … by the notion of domestic violence,'' he said. ''There is no evidence that Mr Bird … is a violent man to this or any other woman.''

Mr Walker said his client had been attempting to ''dampen things down'' during an argument the previous night and again the next morning when Ms Milligan had lunged at him with the glass in her hand.

''The inference seems very clear, and it is certainly what my client asks you to find, that these cuts were caused by the two physically opposed forces of the man and the woman grasping the glass and and the glass coming into contact with the brow.''

Mr Walker denied any suggestion that Ms Milligan was an abuse victim who refused to blame her attacker.

- © Fairfax NZ News