A former All Black who admitted assaulting his 11-year-old son has had his conviction overturned by the High Court.
The former rugby star, who has name suppression, had applied to be discharged without conviction when he appeared in Auckland District Court on March 14 on one charge of assaulting a child.
The charge carries a maximum two-year penalty.
But Judge Tony Fitzgerald convicted him and ordered him to come up for sentence if called upon within six months.
The court was earlier told that on September 27 last year the man's son and daughter were fighting and the man became annoyed, removed his belt and hit the boy across his leg and across his shoulder with it.
The boy was struck with enough force that it left marks that were noticed at his school, which wanted him examined to ensure he had not suffered any long-term injuries.
He suffered bruising and redness to his skin and had to receive medical attention.
Judge Fitzgerald said the assault was "inappropriate force used for discipline".
In her decision released today, High Court judge Justice Judith Potter accepted that while it was open to the Judge Fitzgerald to categorise the man's offending as serious, it was at the lower end of the scale.
A belt was used, but no physical harm was inflicted.
Justice Potter said the man had grounds to appeal his conviction as Judge Fitzgerald overrated the seriousness of the offending and underrated the consequences of his conviction.
Justice Potter said taking into account the sportsman's early guilty plea, his remorse, clean record and the steps he had taken to address the underlying causes of his offending, including counselling and anger management, she found it appropriate to discharge his conviction.