Friends rally around Michael Slater’s amid alleged menacing domestic violence campaign
Michael Slater’s friends have rallied around him as he faces his own mental health battle on top of domestic violence charges.
National
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Michael Slater’s friends have revealed the former Test cricketer’s battle with bipolar disorder as he faces domestic violence charges.
The batsman’s mates have rallied around him as he faces a December hearing on a charge of use carriage service to menace/harass/offend; and stalk/intimidate intend fear physical involving his former partner Melanie Livesey.
Slater allegedly “menaced” his former partner with a campaign of text messages and an unannounced arrival at her home.
He was dumped from Channel 7’s cricket commentary team in October, just days before the domestic violence charges were laid.
But friends of Slater, 51, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said he had been battling demons.
“I would caution that he does have bipolar, he’s had it for many years,” a source said.
Slater, who has been married twice, split with Ms Livesey this year.
The former couple sold their Sydney home for $5.65 million in August, at the height of Slater’s alleged eight-month harassment campaign.
They made almost $2 million profit on the sale of the Randwick home, which they bought just before the start of the Covid-19 pandemic last year.
Slater’s behaviour had become increasingly unusual in recent months, with his attack on Prime Minister Scott Morrison in May making headlines.
He accused Mr Morrison of having “blood on his hands” in a Twitter rant for refusing to allow Australians to return from India at the height of the pandemic.
The tweets, sent while he was in the Maldives and waiting to return to Australia, were linked to his departure from Seven, however, television boss Lewis Martin denied the claim.
Slater, who was this week in a psychiatric facility for treatment, applied to the Waverley Local Court this week for his case to be decided under a mental health order through his criminal lawyer James McLaughlin.
Ms Livesey also has an apprehended violence order against Slater.
The former cricketer, who was a long time Channel 9 commentator before the cricket was snatched by Seven, has previously spoken about his bipolar disorder.
He revealed the illness in an interview, where he also denied he was a drug user.
Slater told how then Cricket Australia boss Malcolm Speed questioned him about whether he had been taking cocaine in 2001, before a tour to India.
“You go back to your so-called reliable source and tell him he’s not so reliable, because drugs have never been a part of my life, will never be a part of my life. It’s just something I will never stand for,” Slater told Andrew Denton’s Enough Rope program in 2005.
Slater offloaded his former family home in Newport on Sydney’s northern beaches for $5.5 million last year.
The home, which he shared with his second wife Jo and their three children, had direct access to Bungan Beach.
That home was sold at a $2.4 million profit, adding to the income Slater had earned from a lucrative commentary career on television and radio.
Slater separated from his first wife, Stephanie, in 2001.
The mercurial batsman, who made 14 Test centuries at an average of 42.83 in his 74 appearances in the Baggy Green, has been in online coaching videos for young players.
Slater has heavily promoted Slocoach on his Instagram page, but his name and profile was not on the company’s website yesterday.
Ms Livesey declined to comment.
Slater was due to reappear in court on December 23. He has yet to enter a plea.
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