Veronica Cashmere pleads guilty to assault occasioning bodily harm after Walkerston rugby league match

Derogatory comments at a rugby league match left one young woman with a blood nose and another with a league suspension. See what set the offender off.

The court heard former Wests Tigers Seniors player Veronica Cashmere assaulted a woman because of some offensive comments made during and after a rugby match. Picture: Facebook

A promising young rugby league player halted her sporting career with a vicious game-day assault that led to her instant suspension from competitions.

Former Airlie Beach Subway manager Veronica Cashmere assaulted a 22-year-old woman as she left the Western Suburbs Leagues Club at Walkerston after a match on August 29 last year.

Proserpine Magistrates Court heard Cashmere, 29, grabbed the woman by the hair from behind so hard she fell to the ground, then punched her four times where she lay.

The court heard the victim sustained injuries to her chest, ear, and face including a blood nose, and that her prescription glasses broke during the assault.

Queensland Rugby League suspended Veronica Cashmere from participating in its competitions after the August 2020 assault. She had previously received Wests Tigers Seniors’ ‘Best Back’ award. Picture: Facebook

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Legal Service barrister Phillip Moore told the court his client had been upset at the time about the victim repeatedly spreading rumours about troubles in Cashmere’s marriage.

Mr Moore said the woman was a teacher’s aide at Cashmere’s son’s school, and Cashmere had previously contacted the school’s principal to report similar derogatory comments.

“The victim had been making similar comments to those made within the school community that there were problems in the relationship and that the marriage was on the rocks,” Mr Moore explained.

“That in itself had caused a degree of strain on the marriage – almost like a self-fulfilling prophecy,” he said.

Pleading guilty to one count of assault occasioning bodily harm, Cashmere herself told the court both she and the victim had played rugby that afternoon and that the victim had “said some things” during the game that had continued as players left the venue about 6.20pm.

Magistrate James Morton called the offending “an embarrassment” and told the mother-of-two she should not let people spreading gossip “get the better of” her.

“What goes on the football field, stays on the football field,” Mr Morton said.

“It’s just words, that’s all it is,” he said.

He sentenced Cashmere to pay a $500 fine plus $500 compensation to the victim.

No convictions were recorded.