Michael Slater’s barrister told a judge that the former Australian cricket player “paid a heavy price” and “deserves another chance”, as a judge ruled Slater was guilty of domestic violence charge in Sydney this week.
Slater has faced numerous charges relating to assaults in recent months.
In April, one incident occurred early on a Tuesday morning after Slater had a vodka-drinking binge. He then went into an aggressive rage, accusing his girlfriend of being unfaithful.
The court heard accusations that the woman, who’d been with Slater for six weeks, lost her balance and fell after he grabbed at her hoodie. He proceeded to throw her phone around, break a chair, bang his head against a mirror, throw her laptop on the floor, and threaten to jump off a balcony if the woman contacted anyone for help.
In response to all of this, at his trial in Manly Local Court seven months later, documents show Slater said, “I didn’t actually touch you– it was the hoodie.”
The day after this alcoholic rampage, Slater went to Waverley Local Court to face earlier domestic violence charges towards another woman involving controlling behaviour.
In this separate incident, Slater bombarded the woman with text messages and forbade her to speak with her family. These charges were dismissed under the Mental Health Act.
More recently, on Wednesday, Slater appeared in the Manly Court again where his barrister, John Agius SC, argued for seven further charges against Slater to be dismissed on mental health grounds.
Some of the seven charges against Slater related to the April incident, others involved a second woman, and others again were related to an assault on a patient at Northern Beaches Hospital.
Agius told the court that Slater had been diagnosed with bipolar disorder and that “he should be given one more chance” because this hadn’t been diagnosed at the time of his offences. He argued that Slater’s charges be dismissed on mental health grounds.
Magistrate Robyn Denes ruled otherwise.
Denes rejected the argument, saying Slater’s controlling behaviour and the harm he caused his victims had not been acknowledged in his lawyers’ submissions.
Agius then requested that the conviction not be recorded, so that Slater could travel overseas. But Denes refused that as well, saying Slater hadn’t made any effort to address the way he’d treated women.
“There should be an expectation that all people who commit domestic violence and breach AVOs should be convicted,” said Denes.
The 52-year-old, former opening batsman for Australia’s Test cricket team was then convicted of domestic violence-related charges and placed on two-year good behaviour bonds.
Slater was also banned from trying to track down his former partner in the next two years with a restraining order.
Denes did, however, dismiss his charges relating to the assault at Northern Beaches Hospital under the Mental Health Act.
If you or anyone you know needs support, you can contact the National Sexual Assault, Domestic and Family Violence Counselling Service on 1800RESPECT (1800 737 732), Lifeline 131 114, or Beyond Blue 1300 224 636.