AFL icon accused of ‘petrifying’ 2025 assault

A woman claims AFL great Nicky Winmar dragged her by her hair and smashed her head against a door in a ‘petrifying’ attack.

The woman, who cannot be identified, made the allegations at the Bendigo Magistrates Court today as Winmar fought four charges of assault during a contentious hearing.

Police allege the former St Kilda star, 60, attacked the woman on May 14, 2025 in Cohuna in northern Victoria.

She told the court that Winmar unexpectedly became angry that evening and started shouting at her.

“Just full of ranting and screaming at me – it was all wrong,” she told the court.

‘We didn’t have an argument or anything like that. I couldn’t figure out what was going on. I was in absolute shock.’

The woman claimed Winmar grabbed her arm and twisted it hard before pulling her by the ponytail and dragging her into another room.

She said Winmar then pushed her against a wall before screaming and spitting in her face.

“He turned off the lights and wouldn’t let me out,” the woman told the court.

“He physically overpowered me so I couldn’t get out. He knew I was scared.”

The woman told the court he eventually let go of her and she ran to get her mobile phone but he took it from her.

He only gave the phone back after she said she wanted to call a friend instead of the police, the court was told.

The woman said she spoke to her friend before handing the phone back to Winmar and running out of the room.

He allegedly chased her and grabbed her head before slamming it repeatedly against a wooden door.

“I felt dizzy, it was incredibly painful,” she told the court.

The woman said she managed to break free and lock herself in a room, where she called Triple Zero.

“I was terrified that he would do more to me,” the woman said in her testimony.

“I actually feared for my life.”

The Triple Zero call was played in court, along with body-worn camera footage from a police officer who attended the scene.

A photo of the woman’s arm was also shown, showing bruises above her right elbow.

Under questioning by Winmar’s lawyer, Dermot Dann KC, the woman accepted that she had not told the Triple Zero call taker and the first officer what exactly had happened.

She did not disclose the allegations that Winmar had dragged her or that he had spit in her face.

“I didn’t do that on purpose,” the woman told the court.

“I didn’t want to relive it because I was sitting in that room, completely broken by what had just happened.”

The contested hearing will continue tomorrow.

Winmar became the first Aboriginal footballer to play 200 games in the AFL, finishing his career with 230 appearances with St Kilda and 21 for the Western Bulldogs.

He fought back against racism throughout his career, including when he stood in front of an insulting Collingwood crowd in 1993, lifted his jersey and proudly pointed to his skin.

Winmar is also co-leading a landmark anti-racism class action against the AFL in the Victorian Supreme Court.