Disgraced footballer Nicky Winmar appealing jail term for assault
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Nicky Winmar was found guilty of assault last month. (Supplied: Magistrates' Court of Victoria)
Disgraced footballer Nicky Winmar has been jailedfor assaulting a woman in northern Victoria last year.
Last month, Winmar was found guilty of three counts of assault after he smashed a woman's head against a door and dragged her by the hair in Cohuna, north of Bendigo.
At a plea hearing earlier this month, the victim, who cannot be identified, said Winmar's attack had left her a "shadow of the person" she was.
Winmar has since been removed from the Australian Football Hall of Fame and a bronze statue of his response to racist abuse, which stood outside Perth Stadium in his home state, has been removed.
Today the 60-year-old was handed a six-month jail sentence with a 12-month community corrections order to be completed upon his release.
Magistrate Trieu Huynh said Winmar's victim reported feeling broken and had told the court she could not understand how someone "could be so brutal".
"Your actions were unprovoked and came seemingly out of nowhere," Magistrate Huynh said.
"Ultimately, while I accept that you have made significant steps at rehabilitation, I cannot escape the seriousness of the offending and the impact on the victim."
Winmar's lawyers immediately appealed the sentence in the Bendigo Magistrates' Courtand indicated they would apply for bail.
Magistrate Huynh said he was most concerned about Winmar's history of "alcohol-fuelled violent offending".
In 2019 Winmar was sentenced to a community corrections order, including 100 hours of community service, for the drunken assault of a taxi driver.
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