Elgin City’s Kane Hester scored his team’s goals on the same day a court heard he plotted with friends to carry out a betting scam worth nearly £14,000.
Hester scored both goals in Elgin City’s 2-0 win just hours after being accused of conspiring to con an online bookmaker out of £13,583.
Hester put in a man-of-the-match performance against Kelty Hearts in the League Two clash after his case was continued in his absence at Dundee Sheriff Court yesterday.
The charge alleges Hester deliberately stamped on a Hibs player during a cup match in 2019 so he would get booked by referee Willie Collum.
Hester is alleged to have plotted before the match with the others to place a series of bets on him being booked by the referee.
The charge against Hester, Findlay Soutar, Calvin Parrot and Brodie Stewart Myles alleges that they duped bookmaker Bet365 out of £13,583.
The quartet are alleged to have hatched the plot to bet on Hester being booked almost a week before the Betfred League Cup tie between Elgin City and Hibs on 26 July 2019.
They deny “forming a fraudulent scheme to obtain money by placing bets that Kane Hester would receive a booking by the referee during the match” at Borough Briggs Stadium in Elgin.
The charge alleges the four men, who all come from Montrose, Angus, carried out the con between 20 July and 2 August 2019 and received £17,333.32 in payments from Bet365. The charge alleges £13,583.32 was obtained as unlawful winnings.
The quartet are alleged to have agreed before the group stage match that ‘Kane Hester would purposely commit a foul during the course of the match and receive a booking from the referee.’
They are alleged to have placed five separate bets on Hester being booked, and he is alleged to have been shown a yellow card for stamping on a Hibs player.
An alternate version of the charge alleges they cheated at gambling by placing five bets on Hester being booked and that he was shown a yellow card for a foul, leading to them falsely obtaining £13,583.32 in winnings.
Hester, 26, Soutar, 25, Parrot, 26, and Myles, 28, have all denied the charge and the case was continued until later this year.
The court has been told that certain areas of evidence could be agreed between the Crown and defence agents, but that experts would need to analyse the Crown’s phone evidence ahead of the scheduled trial.
The Welsh striker has scored 13 goals in 22 league and cup games for Elgin City this season and has been booked four times and sent off once.
