A Scottish football league player scored his team’s goals hours after a court heard he plotted with friends to carry out a betting scam for nearly £15,000.
Kane Hester scored both goals in Elgin’s 2-0 win on Tuesday just hours after being accused of conspiring to con an online bookmaker out of £13,583 in 2019.
Hester put in a man-of-the-match display against Kelty Hearts in the League Two clash after his case was continued in his absence at Dundee Sheriff Court.
Hester is alleged to have stamped on a Hibs player during a cup match so referee Willie Collum would book him.
It is claimed he plotted before the game with three others to place a series of bets on him being booked.
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 almost a week before the Betfred League Cup tie on 26 July 2019.
The charge alleges the four, who all come from Montrose, Angus, carried out the con between July 20 and August 2, 2019 and received £17,333.32 in payments from Bet365.
The charge alleges £13,583.32 was won.
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 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 is continued until later this year.
The Welsh striker has scored 12 goals in 22 games for Elgin City this season and has been booked four times and sent off once.
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