Former Port Adelaide and Carlton AFL player Nick Stevens has been jailed for eight months for bashing and threatening to kill his ex-girlfriend.
Stevens, 35, who also coached SANFL side Glenelg until his January conviction, was found guilty of 12 charges arising from the abuse of the woman he was in a relationship with in 2012 and 2013.
The charges effectively ended any hopes he had of an AFL coaching career, the court heard earlier this month.
Magistrate Nunzio La Rosa said Stevens had shown no remorse for the sustained violence against the victim, and general deterrence was important in matters of domestic violence.
Stevens also pleaded guilty to breaching an intervention order by sending about 2500 text messages to the victim in 2013.
Mr La Rosa said many of these messages were the mundane sort that usually occur between a couple in a relationship, but others gave insight in Stevens’ psychological state.
“It became evidence that you would not hesitate to manipulate the victim both psychologically and emotionally,” Mr La Rosa said.
After the police laid charges against Stevens, he called the victim twice and threatened her.
Mr La Rosa ordered Stevens to serve a community corrections order of 12 months and fined him $400.
Stevens will have to perform 90 hours of community service.
Mr La Rosa accepted Stevens had already suffered greatly.
But the magistrate didn’t think there was a legal basis to differentiate between him and others who came before the court simply because he had more to lose.
He said Stevens had strongly contested the charges, so the victim was forced to spend two and a half days in the witness box during the contested committal hearing.
The woman has a facial scar due to Stevens smashing her face into the kitchen bench and the splash back at the house the pair shared.
Stevens was also found guilty of pushing her face into the exterior of her parents’ home and threatening to kill her and her father.
The magistrate sentenced Stevens to a total of eight months in prison.
Stevens, who has been on bail, was taken into custody after Mr La Rosa concluded his sentencing remarks.
