UPDATED 1.16PM: The Prime Minister has expressed his faith in the judiciary as a controversial case raises fresh fears that sports stars are getting an easy ride in the courts.

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It follows a decision that saw Wellington representative rugby player Losi Filipo discharged without conviction after he faced assault related charges over an attack on four people, including two women.

Prime Minister John Key said today he'd hate to think it's the case that rugby players get special treatment. He'd be very surprised if the judge has based his decision solely on the fact Filipo is a rugby player.

And he doesn't think judges are out of touch, as "they deal with a lot of issues, they're very high calibre and they usually come from quite a lot of experience."

Meanwhile, Upper Hutt mayor Wayne Guppy coached Filipo for four years during his time at St Patrick's College Silverstream, and wrote a character reference for him during the legal proceedings, but is now back-tracking.

"Well, look, from the point of view of hindsight, I wouldn't do it," Guppy said.

"From the point of view of fact, my letter clearly stated what he achieved as a rugby player, and my opinion in my dealings that I had with him, I had not seen any of that sort of behaviour."

But Rob Nichol, New Zealand Rugby Players Association president told Larry Williams yesterday that the situation needs to be taken out of a rugby context.

"We don't make the rules here. Society is provided this opportunity and we we've put judges in place to exercise their discretion about when it's applied."

Nichol said people are discharged without conviction so they have an opportunity to turn their lives around.

"No one's got more convincing to do more than Losi himself. He's got a lot of work to do to restore some faith and giving himself an opportunity. It doesn't matter whether it's in rugby or any other career he may chose to pursuit. He's been let off the hook"