Andrew Lovett’s violent past comes back to bite him in court

Former Bombers star Andrew Lovett’s history of violent offending has come back to bite him as a magistrate rejected his bid for a slap on the wrist over a horror road rage incident.

A magistrate has rejected Andrew Lovett’s bid for a slap on the wrist over a horror road rage incident. Picture: Penny Stephens

Ex-AFL star Andrew Lovett’s violent past has come back to bite him as a magistrate rejected his bid for a slap on the wrist over a horror road rage incident.

The former Essendon midfielder, 41, avoided jail on Wednesday after he bashed a stranger because their car mirrors clipped when driving past one another on a narrow Thornbury street.

Thanks to his lengthy rap sheet for violent offending, a court rejected Lovett’s request for a good behaviour bond or a fine, finding it would “trivialise” the unlawful assault against his victim, who had been left “shocked”.

Instead, Magistrate Denise Livingstone ordered Lovett do 50 hours of unpaid work within an 18 month community corrections order, which would cause troubles for him visiting his kids interstate.

Back in October, Lovett chased the man’s car down after a minor bingle and smacked him twice in the face at a stop sign.

He later told police: “I wanted to have a go at him and go ‘mate, what the f**k are you doing? You can’t just hit people or have your mirrors touch’.”

The victim reported he kept driving, believing neither car was damaged but Lovett claimed he “almost f**king died”.

Former Essendon star Lovett has been ordered to complete 50 hours of unpaid work.

Labelling his crime as “effectively road rage”, Ms Livingstone said substance abuse had caused Lovett’s offending and she ordered the man, who said he was already sober, to abstain from drugs and alcohol and submit to weekly testing for six months.

But Lovett, standing in the body of the Heidelberg Magistrates’ Court to receive his sentence, piped up when Her Honour set orders for testing.

“This is your sentence now, it’s not time for a new submission,” Her Honour clapped back.

“So you say you’re abstinent, you’ll be tested to make sure you maintain that abstinence.”

Ms Livingstone said the crime had caused Lovett’s victim to “have to grapple with his own sense of safety and self worth, and it’s shocked him, and it’s given him some psychological trauma”.

Because of that, and Lovett’s “history”, Her Honour said his request for a good behaviour bond “would trivialise the nature and circumstances of the events and the impact on this victim”.

If he abided by the court’s conditions and didn’t reoffend at the end of one year, Her Honour said “that’s the end of the matter”, but if there was a breach, he’d be hauled back to court to be resentenced.

Lovett was jailed for eight months in 2022 over a campaign of domestic violence against his former partner.

In that single year, he racked up eight criminal offences, including for unlawful assaults, recklessly causing injury and intentionally causing injury.

Magistrate Livingstone found Lovett’s prospects for rehabilitation were “good”, noting that he attended regular psychiatrist and psychologist appointments and voluntarily attended mens’ behaviour change group Dardi Munwurro after completing one of its anger management programs.

Originally published as Andrew Lovett’s violent past comes back to bite him in court