Although barely remembered these days, for a brief period in 2013, Luke Pomersbach attained unwanted fame in the world, during his IPL stint for the Royal Challengers Bangalore.
One night after Bangalore had beaten the Delhi Daredevils (now Capitals), a group of players and friends went drinking at the Maurya Sheraton Hotel in Delhi.
Also in the party were Zohal Hamid and her fiancé. According to Hamid, Pomersbach said something to her fiancé that she did not like. He gave her looks that made her feel uncomfortable.
When she tried to leave and go back to her room, Pomersbach grabbed her hand and tried to kiss her. When her fiancé tried to intervene, Pomersbach turned round and punched him in the face several times.
He was arrested by local police and brought to court where he faced four charges, including outraging the modesty of a woman, which carried a maximum jail sentence of two years.
When he appeared in the dock in sweltering heat, with hundreds crammed into the Patiala Court, Pomersbach collapsed shortly after his hearing began.
His passport was confiscated, but he was released on bail. The case was later settled out of court and the charges were dropped. Despite the controversy surrounding him, he was bought in the following year’s player auction by the Kings XI Punjab (now Punjab Kings).
Pomersbach had already had a chequered career up to that point. In 2007 he had been suspended for drinking on the eve of a vital game against South Australia. Two years later, after two hit-and-run incidents, he was arrested and charged by the Australian Police after failing to stop, driving over the alcohol limit, assaulting a police officer and resisting arrest. He pledged guilty, had his driving licence cancelled and was suspended by Western Australia indefinitely.
He retired from the game in 2014 on mental health grounds, but post retirement his brushes with the law have continued, and last year he faced charges of stealing, aggravated burglary, and involvement with illegal drugs.