‘Sinto muito’: Zac Guildford sobre ferir pessoas, o que ele fez com o dinheiro e diagnóstico médico. Vídeo / George Heard
Disgraced All Black Zac Guildford diz que vendeu sua medalha de campeão da Copa do Mundo de Rugby de 2011 para alimentar seu vício em jogos de azar.
Em março, Guildford foi condenado por roubar milhares de dólares de seu avô e enganar um amigo ainda mais.
O homem de 33 anos morava com seu avô de 77 anos, Frank Burt, em Wairarapa quando transferiu um total de US$ 41.400 do iPad de seu avô para sua própria conta entre 30 de março e 9 de abril de 2021 para abastecer seu vício em jogos de azar.
Ele foi condenado a nove meses de detenção domiciliar.
Em uma entrevista no podcast Runners Only with Dom Harvey, Guildford revelou que vendeu a medalha da vitória final de 2011 sobre a França por US$ 2.000.
“Através do meu vício em jogos de azar, vendi muitos deles [medals]”, disse Guildford. “Estou arrasado com isso.
“É como se o vício do caminho me derrubou. Esses são os momentos que realmente batem forte.
“Acho que foi por dois mil ou algo assim [for the Rugby World Cup medal]. Eu estava naquele estágio da minha vida em que estava tão preso ao vício e não conseguia ver uma saída, que jogar e encontrar a paz através do vício era o único caminho a seguir.
“… são as cicatrizes da minha vida anterior que eu tenho que carregar. Estou no processo de curá-las. Eu sei quem eles [the medals’ have gone to, and I know they’re being care of, but it’s the whole grief stage post-addiction is what I’m going through now, and I think honesty is a big part of that.”
Guildford opened upin an interview with the Weekend Herald in March about his offending and a new psychological diagnosis.
Guildford admitted he drove his international rugby career into the ground and harmed his loved ones.
“I’m sorry. I couldn’t make sense of what I was doing for a long time and the trauma I was causing. It started in my own head but then I inflicted it on others through gambling and false promises and being a person I wasn’t.”
Guildford told the Weekend Herald he first took money out of “pure addiction”, boredom, and the idea he could get out of the hole he was in if he just “took a little bit, then put some back”.
LISTEN TO KATIE HARRIS’ PODCAST INTERVIEW WITH ZAC GUILDFORD
“It didn’t work that way, as I found out the hard way – and most addicts will know it’s not just a little bit.”
Guildford moved to Upper Riccarton from the Wairarapa to start a new job with a construction industry company and to make a clean break in February. An introduction was organised via his probation worker and he was recently living with his bosses, who have taken in convicted criminals in the past.
His boss asked him to get tested for a neurodevelopmental condition, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), and his diagnosis was confirmed days before sentencing.
“That’s when the questions started to make sense around how my life played out and why some of the mistakes I made were not because I was a horrible person but because of some of the impulses I have toward things.”
While Guildford says his diagnosis isn’t “an excuse” for his actions, he believes if he had been diagnosed earlier, his life could have been different.
“I feel a little bit of a relief, because deep down I thought, am I just a c***? Or, am I just a horrible person? Why am I doing these bad things? That makes no sense, because I’m a good person.
“I want to make it clear, that I’m not being slapped with this hefty court thing, and then all of a sudden coming out the week later and saying, look Zac Guildford’s got ADHD, another F****** excuse.”
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