Ex-Saint Robert Eddy claims assault on ‘friend with benefits’ was self-defence

A woman has accused an ex-Saint of bashing and strangling her, claiming he was wielding a screwdriver during the terrifying incident.

Robert Eddy leaves Moorabbin Magistrates’ Court with his mother. Picture: David Crosling

A woman has told a court how she was allegedly “bashed” before being strangled and threatened with a screwdriver in a terrifying domestic violence attack by former AFL player Robert Eddy.

The ex-St Kilda midfielder-turned car salesman is vigorously contesting the allegations in Moorabbin Magistrates Court after being charged with recklessly causing injury and assault offences.

He claims it was the woman who attacked him and he was trying to defend himself.

The court heard last week the pair were “friends with benefits” when Eddy, 34, attended her Clarinda home uninvited about midnight on January 23, 2020.

The woman fought back tears as she testified how Eddy punched her in the face following an argument about him not wanting her to leave to go to a friend’s house.

She said he took her keys and phone to stop her, and when she grabbed his shoulder, begging to get them back, “he turned around and bashed my face”.

Former St Kilda footballer Robert Eddy is fighting the allegations.

“I think it was a fist to my eye. The next thing I remember I was on the floor and he was sitting on top of me,” she said.

“He put his hands around my throat. He tried choking me.

“I couldn’t breathe. I get scared, I remember, very scared.

“I tried to get free. He’s stronger than me. Then I started to cry and asked him to stop.”

She said he only stopped when she told him that she had cameras in the house that were recording his every move.

But she said he later used a “sharp screwdriver” to taunt her, and then “cut my skin” when she was in the kitchen.

“He was pretending, like he was playing with me a game … a joke,” she said.

“He was drunk. He was jumping around.

“I told him I was calling the police and he said he would speak to the police himself.”

When police arrived, Eddy was waiting on the front lawn for them.

Robert Eddy in action during the 2010 Grand AFL Final.

One of the officer’s body-worn cameras captured him describing his version of events.

“I came in a great mood and she just jumped down my throat,” he said.

He said he asked her three times to remove her hand from his shoulder.

The camera also heard a policeman remark “Wow” when he went inside and saw the woman’s swollen black eye.

Photos shown to the court depicted bruises and scratches on her arms and back.

Barrister Rahmin de Kretser, for Eddy, said it was a “word on word” case with his client denying the woman’s version of events.

At one point when she was giving evidence a male’s voice mumbled “bulls--t” inside the courtroom.

Eddy, from South Yarra, claims he never punched her and was defending himself when he twisted her hand to get it off him.

Robert Eddy with ex-teammates Nick Riewoldt and Stephen Milne.

He played dozens of matches for the Saints, including the 2010 grand finals.

“She thought I had her keys. I said ‘don’t push me’,” he later told police.

When Mr de Kretser put to the woman that she was not telling the truth and that her black eye was from a fall, she said: “I’m not making this up. He did punch me.”

But the court heard she had not included the allegations regarding the screwdriver and choking in her police statement, only bringing them to the attention of police three days before the contested hearing.

She said she did not give a full statement on the night because she was “in shock”.

She had also told police on the night she did not want to make a statement.

“I didn’t want him to get in trouble. We were good mates,” she said.

Eddy played 33 games for the Saints between 2007 and 2011, including the 2010 Grand Final and replay.

His case returns to court in July.