Former Brisbane Lion Albert Proud jailed for brutally bashing girlfriend
FORMER Brisbane Lions player Albert Proud has been jailed for a vicious bashing that left his girlfriend in hospital for a month.
Law & Order
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FORMER AFL player Albert Proud has been sentenced to five-and-a-half years’ jail for viciously bashing his ex-partner — but could be free next October.
The ex-Brisbane Lions player bashed then-girlfriend Richelle Kadadi at his Sunnybank home on November 8 last year after the pair attended a wedding together.
The bride and groom drove past Proud’s home as Ms Kadadi staggered away, heavily injured, and they took her to hospital.
She had been punched in the chest so hard she thought she was having a heart attack and screamed “I’m dying”.
The court was told it was likely she fell against something during the attack and fractured her skull.
Ms Kadadi had an emergency craniotomy for a severe brain injury and was in hospital for 33 days.
If she was not hospitalised, she would have died.
The prosecutor said given her memory loss, it was hard to determine the precise details of the assault but it appeared she had suffered at least two blows to her head after the strike to her chest, as well as being strangled and grabbed by her shoulders and arms.
In sentencing Proud, Brisbane District Judge Tony Moynihan told Proud: “You are a danger to members of the community when you are drunk”.
The court heard Proud had been affectionate earlier in the evening but his mood shifted after Ms Kadadi handed him his wet clothes as they left the party, where he’d been pushed into a pool.
Proud threw the items onto the roof of the house and said “who f****ing cares” when she asked him why he’d done it.
When they got into the car he started striking the windscreen and gearstick before eventually attacking her.
The Judge said Ms Kadadi described in her victim impact statement how terrified she was the night of the assault “and just how deeply she was hurt — both emotionally and physically”.
“She suffered the additional pain of having her five-year-old son live with his father in Sydney while she recovered and was cared for by her elderly parents,” he said.
“She just has to wait and see what the long-term consequences of your assault on her are.”
Judge Moynihan said the ordeal has been “catastrophic” for Ms Kadadi.
He also noted Proud’s criminal history, pointing out the 27-year-old had previously assaulted other women.
Proud, who played 29 games for the Lions before being sacked in 2011 following a litany of alcohol-fuelled incidents, pleaded guilty to grievous bodily harm and wilful damage.
Proud’s barrister, Greg McGuire, told the sentencing hearing Proud could not explain why he attacked his girlfriend of more than two months.
“He himself says he can’t explain his behaviour, something just snapped in him,” Mr McGuire said.
He said positive references to the court in Proud’s favour showed “what could be described as a bit of a Jekyll and Hyde character”.
“Albert Proud sober is different to Albert Proud drunk,” Mr McGuire said.
The Judge sentenced him to a five-a-half year head term with parole eligibility in October 2017.
— With AAP