‘I don’t feel safe anywhere’: Nicky Winmar’s victim says assault stays with her

Former AFL star Nicky Winmar has already been punished by the “erasure” of his accolades and statue, his lawyer argued, as he pushed for his client to avoid jail time for assault.

Winmar, 60, was in July convicted of a May 2025 assault against a woman at Cohuna in northern Victoria.

The woman, who cannot be identified, told the court Winmar unexpectedly became angry at her before grabbing and twisting her arm.

He then dragged the woman by the hair, pushed her up against a wall and spat in her face before repeatedly bashing her head into a wooden door.

Winmar argued the woman was lying, but Bendigo magistrate Trieu Huynh found him guilty of two counts of common law assault and one charge of unlawful assault.

At Winmar’s pre-sentence hearing on Thursday, the woman told the court she no longer felt like the person she once was.

“I have days where I feel so worthless and my confidence is non-existent,” she said in a statement.

“I don’t feel safe anywhere. I’m always on edge.”

Prosecutor Annina Tropea argued the impact on the victim had been profound as she pushed for Winmar to be jailed.

The 60-year-old had multiple opportunities during the attack to walk away and yet he persisted, Tropea said.

“He needs to understand there are consequences for his decision-making,” the prosecutor said.

But Winmar’s barrister Dermot Dann, KC, argued a jail term was the last resort and a community corrections order was the more appropriate sentence.

Dann submitted Winmar had already suffered additional punishment since his conviction, with his statue being removed from Optus Stadium in Perth.

Winmar was also stripped of his spot in the AFL Hall of Fame, Dann said.

“No one was waiting to see if he wanted to appeal – they just removed it,” he told the court.

Dann conceded there had been some low points in Winmar’s life and the assault in Cohuna was one of those times.

But the 60-year-old had taken steps to address his mental health struggles and issues with alcohol, Dann said.

Winmar had abstained from alcohol for the past 12 months and was still seeing a psychologist to deal with his post-traumatic stress disorder and depression, the barrister said.

Dann referenced the day in 1993 when Winmar stood in front of an abusive Collingwood crowd, lifted his jumper and pointed to his skin.

“They can erase his statue,” Dann said. “What they will never be able to erase from the hearts and minds of the people who care about racism … is the memory of his great stand that day at Victoria Park. They will never erase that.”

The magistrate said he would need time to consider whether he should jail Winmar or sentence him to a community corrections order.

He ordered Winmar undergo a corrections assessment ahead of his sentence hearing on August 28.

Winmar, whose bail was extended, ignored questions from reporters as he left the Bendigo court.

Winmar kicked 317 goals across 251 games with St Kilda and the Western Bulldogs, and was named in the All-Australian team in 1991 and 1995.

He was the first Indigenous footballer to play 200 VFL/AFL games.

AAP

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