Brett Seymour, a former playmaker for three different NRL teams, has learned his fate after pleading guilty to a slew of domestic violence charges.
Last playing in the NRL in 2011, Seymour pleaded guilty to three counts of assault occasioning bodily harm and one count of common assault but has escaped jail time, per The Chronicle.
Upon learning his fate, the former NRL player was sentenced to three years' imprisonment but was granted immediate parole and ordered to pay $5,000 in compensation to the woman within six months.
“I'm sick and tired of doing these cases, I do them almost every week,” Judge Craig Chowdhury said via the publication.
“When I was growing up… the message sent to young boys and young men [was] no man should ever lay a finger on a woman ever; unfortunately, that message seems to have been lost.
“It is shocking just how widespread and serious domestic violence has gotten.”
It is understood that during one attack, Seymour punched the victim, and when she screamed for help, he said the words, "No one believes you, mutt".
On another occasion, he slapped the victim, giving her a black eye and then said that she should lie to her employer and state she got hit with a cricket ball in a backyard game.
“The decline in his mental health has really commenced the moment he left that community,” defence barrister Daniel Boddice said.
“He was left in a position without any real identity and no money, and you can see the spiral.”
A former coach of Toowoomba Valleys RLFC, Seymour featured in 123 NRL first-grade matches for the Brisbane Broncos (2002-06), Cronulla Sharks (2007-09) and New Zealand Warriors (2010-11) before taking his talents overseas.
Marked with controversy throughout his career due to claims of misconduct against women, he also appeared for Hull FC, Castleford Tigers, Whitehaven and Dewsbury Rams.
