Former Redlegs player Mathew Vidic’s harrowing abuse of ex-wife detailed in court

A former SANFL player’s harrowing abuse of his ex-wife has been detailed in court, including his threats to burn her alive.

Vidic with his then-wife Julia at Minda's 110th birthday gala dinner at the Adelaide Entertainment Centre in 2008.

A former footballer’s escalating domestic violence culminated with him twice threatening to set his wife on fire, a court has heard – once while splashing litres of petrol and flicking a lighter.

On Tuesday, Julia Hodge confronted her “jealous, controlling and terrifying” ex-husband, former Norwood player Mathew Vidic, in the District Court.

Vidic, 42, has pleaded guilty to aggravated counts of threatening to cause harm, and to kill, over his cruelty toward Ms Hodge in their home on May 26 and June 3 last year.

In her victim impact statement, Ms Hodge – a teacher, mother and champion marathon runner – said those incidents were just parts of a “pattern” of abuse.

She said they were preceded by Vidic threatening to kill the family dog with a knife, and by him stealing her passport to prevent her competing overseas.

The crimes were followed, she said, by him repeatedly calling her from prison after his arrest.

“May 26 and June 3 were the most severe manifestations of a pattern of coercive control, manipulation and threats of violence that Mathew subjected me to over an extended period of time,” she said.

Mathew Vidic attends a tribunal hearing in September 2001.

Footballer Mathew Vidic at a Norwood vs Sturt match in May 2003.

“(On May 26) he threatened to burn down our house with me and our children inside (with) a full 20L jerry can of petrol he had prepared earlier, to teach me a lesson.”

Ms Hodge said she called Triple 0 for help but Vidic kicked in the door, took her phone and hung up on the operator.

She then watched her smart watch signal repeatedly as the operator tried to call back, but she was unable to answer for fear of antagonising Vidic.

The incident only ended, she said, when the couple’s nine-year-old daughter intervened and begged Vidic to leave Ms Hodge alone.

Ms Hodge said she did not report the incident to police at the time because she was fearful of how Vidic would react.

“I felt powerless to protect my children and escape... I was overwhelmed with a horrible sense of helplessness, isolation and dread,” she said.

“At that point, I had never been more afraid in my life, I was consumed by the thought he was going to murder me and potentially our children.

“He had told me ‘if I can’t keep you through love, I’ll keep you by fear’ and ‘if I can’t have you, nobody can’.”

She said her fears were “very nearly realised” on June 3, when their children were at a sleepover.

“Mathew entered the bedroom carrying a 10L jerry can of fuel, flicking a cigarette lighter... for 30 minutes, he threatened repeatedly to set me on fire as I lay in bed,” she said.

“The verbal degradation I endured was not out of character... he accused me of untrue things, and called me appalling things, out of his severe jealousy and paranoia.

“I felt completely helpless, vulnerable and powerless as he splashed petrol on the bedside table and floor, the cigarette lighter near my head with a naked flame.

“I truly believed I would be burned alive that night, particularly if I said the wrong thing.”

Ms Hodge managed to escape and, having recorded the incident on her phone, alerted police – they arrested Vidic, who has been in custody ever since.

In her statement, Ms Hodge acknowledged Vidic had been diagnosed with Narcissistic Personality Disorder, Type 2 Bipolar and Intermittent Explosive Disorder.

Teacher, marathon runner and mother Julia Hodge outside the District Court. Picture: Sean Fewster

She said they in no way detracted from his conscious choice to offend against “those he should have been protecting” in “the place we should have been safest”.

“These were the choices of a man who sought to control and intimidate his family through violence,” she said.

“I’m relieved he has pleaded guilty (but) I fear he will feel wronged and betrayed by my words, and harbour feelings of vengeance, leading to potential consequences for me.”

She and the couple’s children, she said, had and would continue to suffer the effects of Vidic’s abuse for years to come.

Peter Morrison, for Vidic, said his client was “mortified and remorseful”, accepted his relationship with Ms Hodge was over, and would no longer seek to communicate with her.

He said Vidic’s father had abused his mother, and that she had been forced to kill her husband in self-defence.

“He sees echoes of his father in his own behaviour,” he said.

Mr Morrison said there was no excuse for Vidic’s crimes, but their foundation was “explained” by his background.

He said Vidic played for Norwood between 2001 and 2007, but left the game after sustaining injuries that “required 22 surgeries”.

Vidic then worked in the dental industry but had to give that up after suffering a thumb injury, at which time he became a stay-at-home father while Ms Hodge worked and pursued her running.

Mr Morrison said Vidic turned to binge drinking once the children were at school, exacerbating his mental health issues and jealousy over Ms Hodge’s absences from the home.

“His keen fear of abandonment manifested as oversensitivity to the threat of his now ex-wife leaving him,” he said.

“He made frantic efforts to avoid real or imagined abandonment due to his hypersensitivity to rejection, combined with heavy alcohol consumption.”

He asked Vidic’s sentence be backdated to his arrest and he be allowed to serve the remainder of it on home detention.

Judge Rauf Soulio agreed to order a home detention inquiry report, but told Vidic not to draw “a false sense of hope” from his decision.

He remanded Vidic in custody for sentencing in October.