Cobden man charged with intentionally causing injury and recklessly causing injury after head butting cricket player

A man who allegedly headbutted a Princetown cricketer so hard it knocked his teeth out and fractured his jaw has been charged. See the details.

A man is facing serious charges after he allegedly headbutted a Princetown cricketer twice, leaving him with multiple fractures that required surgery.

Police have alleged the victim was assaulted near Princetown, between Port Campbell and Apollo Bay, just after 10pm on March 18.

The alleged assault took place off the club premises just hours after Princetown Cricket Club played in the South West Cricket grand finals.

“We lost the grand final earlier that day — and like every club does really — we celebrated the end of the season and it was an unfortunate way for it to finish,” Princetown Cricket Club president Drew Kordupel said.

Warrnambool Criminal Investigation Unit’s Detective Sergeant Andrew Raven told the Warrnambool News that the alleged perpetrator and his victim were known to each other.

“It was some sort of a dispute resulting in one victim having their face seriously injured - he lost some teeth and got a broken jaw,” Detective Sergeant Raven said.

The victim was airlifted to Geelong Hospital where he underwent surgery to correct a fractured jaw.

Sergeant Raven said the two men were believed to be ‘intoxicated’ at the time of the incident.

The alleged perpetrator, from Cobden, was interviewed and charged with intentionally causing injury and recklessly causing injury last week.

Mr Kordupel said the victim, a dairy farmer and also a footy coach, was now at home recovering.

“It’s not part of our culture down there at all — we’re 90 per cent dairy farmers just wanting to get out of the farm for the day.”

The perpetrator was released on bail to appear at the Warrnambool Magistrates’ Court later this year.