Crowe funds pal's court battle

Hollywood hellraiser Russell Crowe is performing at a fundraiser on Saturday to raise money for his surfer pal Koby Abberton's court appeal against a conviction for covering up a murder.

International surfer Abberton faces a prison sentence after he was convicted last year of covering up the fatal shooting of Anthony Hines in 2003. His brother Jai Abberton was found responsible for the murder, but has been acquitted on self-defence grounds.

The Oscar-winner and his new band The Ordinary Fear Of God is headlining the Justice For Koby Abberton event at the Randwick Racecourse in New South Wales, Australia.

An event spokesman says: "Russell doesn't want this to be about him - it's about helping out Koby."

However, Crowe's spokesman said he was performing because the funds were going towards the offspring of drug-dependent parents.