Soccer player Steven Shaun Butler to be sentenced for vicious assault on long-term partner

A talented soccer player armed with a bat bashed his partner unconscious – now she’s had her moment in court. Read her powerful words to her abuser.

A woman who blacked out during her partner’s attack that left her “spitting blood” said it turned her into a shell of the person she once was.

Steven Shaun Butler, 33, will learn his fate later this month after he violently bashed his long-term partner and mother of his children.

The District Court heard the victim was asleep in bed when she woke up to Butler standing over her with a baseball bat on July 8, 2021 at Hillbank.

The court heard the victim blacked out during Butler’s assault so she couldn’t remember if the bat was used but next remembers sitting in the shower spitting out blood.

The victim suffered multiple abrasions and bruising.

Steven Butler committed a horrific assault on his partner. Photo: Facebook

Steven Butler pleaded guilty to causing harm. Photo: Facebook

A victim impact statement was read to the court.

The victim said she had lived in a state of numbness for two years and still had nightmares over the offending.

“Throughout those seven years together I would have to walk on eggshells,” she said.

“Everything I ended up doing was always wrong and always had consequences.”

The victim said Butler made her feel she did not belong in the world and turned her into a shell of the person she once was.

“How is it that someone who was supposed to love and care for me could do that to me?” she said.

“I used to be a happy, bubbly person but this DV relationship has affected every part of my life and will continue to affect me forever.

“I feel like a broken person but I know I can heal eventually.

“I may not be who I was before I met you but I will get better and I will not let this destroy me forever.”

Tim Clarke, for Butler, told the court it had been a toxic relationship and both parties were abusing alcohol and methamphetamine.

Mr Clarke said the couple suffered a home invasion a couple of months prior to the offending.

“As a result of that … my client got the baseball bat from a friend, effectively as a defensive weapon,” he said.

Mr Clarke said Butler had completed multiple rehabilitation courses while in custody and was in a new relationship.

The court previously heard Mr Butler played for a northern suburbs soccer club, as well as coached children.

Chief Judge Michael Evans will sentence Butler later this month.