Former AFL star Andrew Lovett charged with assault
Former Essendon and St Kilda player Andrew Lovett is facing serious criminal charges over an alleged assault.
Police & Courts
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Disgraced former AFL star Andrew Lovett is back before the courts charged over another violent alleged assault.
The ex-Essendon footballer and domestic abuser has been charged with unlawful assault over an alleged incident in Thornbury on Friday October 27 last year.
The criminal case against the 41-year-old was briefly heard in the Melbourne Magistrates’ Court on Tuesday.
Lovett, from Preston, did not appear in court and no details of his alleged offending were aired.
The former AFL player was represented in court by Tessa Theocharous of Kurnai Legal Practice.
Ms Theocharous requested the case be transferred to Heidelberg Magistrates’ Court ahead of the next hearing on July 19.
Lovett was jailed for eight months in May 2022 for a prolonged campaign of physical and psychological violence against his then-girlfriend, ex police officer Melanie Rowe.
At the time of Lovett’s sentencing, Ms Rowe told the media she believed she wasn’t going to escape him alive.
“I was terrified,” Ms Rowe said.
Lovett committed numerous shocking assaults on Ms Rowe, from pouring beer over her to choking, punching and kicking her over a 22-month period.
At sentencing, Magistrate Jason Ong said: “The physical violence before me, committed by you, is of great concern. This was terrifying, ongoing, aggressive physical violence. It was controlling and manipulative behaviour.”
Following his release from prison, Lovett was required to undertake a 12-month community corrections order which finalised mid-2023.
The recent unlawful assault charge laid against him by Northcote police occured only a few months later.
Lovett had a history of violence toward women when he was jailed in 2022.
In 2018, the ex football player was fined $2500 for viciously assaulting another former partner by repeatedly throwing her to the ground in her own home.
That woman suffered injuries to the chest and neck.
Lovett played 88 games for Essendon from 2005 – 2009 and was later traded to St Kilda but sacked before playing a single game after being charged with rape.
He was later acquitted of the charge at a County Court trial in 2011.
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