NRL star turned serial domestic abuser Joel Romelo back in jail after latest attack on girlfriend

The court heard the former sports star chased the ‘terrified’ woman through her own home before she hid from him in a cupboard and he dragged her out onto the floor.

Joel Romelo during his time with the Melbourne Storm. Picture: Colleen Petch

Fallen Territory NRL star turned serial domestic thug Joel Romelo will spend another eight months behind bars after his latest violent attack on a female partner.

The Darwin born sportsman who once played across a string of clubs at the top tier of Australia’s rugby league competition pleaded guilty in the Darwin Local Court to assaulting his ex-girlfriend.

On Tuesday, the court heard Romelo had chased the “terrified” woman through her own home before she hid from him in a cupboard and he dragged her out onto the floor, resulting in a wound to her head requiring four stitches.

Defence lawyer Paul Crean said the offending was at the “lower end of the scale” and noted the woman had said in a victim impact statement “she just wants to get him help”.

But Judge Tanya Fong Lim rejected that submission, saying “it’s not at the higher end but we’re definitely mid-range”.

“She’s running away from him, Mr Crean, she’s terrified, that’s why she’s run away and hid in the cupboard, it is not low end of the scale,” she said.

“It is violence in a domestic situation, he’s pursued her, it is at her home.”

Prosecutor Lachlan Macdonald said the woman’s victim impact statement spoke to a relationship that was “marred by coercive control, violence and fear”.

Joel Romelo outside court in 2021.

He said the court should take into account the fact Romelo was “a prolific domestic violence offender” following a previous conviction for an assault on another woman in 2018.

“The defendant quite clearly hasn’t learned from this offending,” he said.

“He’s expressed little remorse, contrition or insight into the offending and appears to minimise his involvement as well as blaming methamphetamine use.”

In handing Romelo — who was supported in court by his new girlfriend — an eight-month jail sentence to be served in full, Ms Fong Lim said “your drug misuse is no excuse”.

“Mr Romelo, unfortunately for partners around you, and yourself, you are violent in your domestic relationships,” she said.

“I don’t know what’s caused you to be angry on that day — there’s nothing in the facts which would indicate that — but you’ve gone to where she lived and you’ve subjected her to violence.

“It is to her credit that she is supportive of you because she clearly still cares for you but it is not to your credit that you continue to be violent in your domestic situations.”