Domestic violence by Sam Kerr’s brother is exposed in sickening detail

Former AFL champion Daniel Kerr has avoided jail for inflicting terrifying violence on his former partner over a period of six years.

The WA District Court was told that Kerr, 41, the brother of Matildas star Sam Kerr, had choked and assaulted his former partner multiple times and used coercive behaviour that was controlling, emotionally and financially abusive between 2013 and 2019.

During sentencing on Friday, Judge Wendy Gillon said Kerr had been suffering an undiagnosed mental illness at the time of the offending and suspended a four-and-a-half-year prison term for two years.

The former West Coast Eagles player was diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia in November 2022 with the court told he may have been suffering with associated symptoms for at least five years. 

Judge Gillon said at the time of the offending Kerr was unwell and could not recognise his illness, but since his diagnosis he had received regular treatment.

‘You spent the last year on strict bail conditions, which you have worked hard at. It is in the community’s interest that you continue your rehabilitation,’ she said. 

The court was told that the couple’s relationship was marred by Kerr’s drug and  alcohol use, and that his behaviour worsened during their time together.

The state prosecutor told the court that in January 2014, Kerr’s former partner was moving into his home when they got into a verbal argument. 

The victim left and went to a friend’s house, at which point Kerr burned her clothes and cut her bed in half with a chainsaw.

On another occasion, Kerr punched his ex-partner in the face while holding his keys in his hand, leaving a large gash on her face. 

The court was told he then licked the blood off the keys. 

In another incident, five months after the couple had a child, Kerr strangled his partner while she was holding their infant baby.

He controlled her finances, would routinely go through her phone, stopped her from leaving the house and on one occasion dragged her from bed by her hair. 

His defence lawyer Kate Turtley-Chappel said Kerr accepted the facts and took full responsibility for the offending that consisted of violence, threats, intimidation, verbal and emotional abuse.

Ms Turtley-Chappel said domestic violence was a scourge on the community and there was nothing she would say to sway that.

She said the only appropriate sentence was imprisonment and Kerr took full responsibility for his behaviour, but she asked the court that it be suspended.

‘The offending is disturbing and alarming, that is accepted,’ she said.

‘It would have been terrifying for the victim.’

In a victim impact statement, his former partner said while she had suffered post-traumatic stress disorder she no longer feared Kerr now that he was receiving treatment.

In handing down her sentence Judge Gillon said to the former AFL champion, ‘You had a considerable fall from grace Mr Kerr,’ and accepted that Kerr was remorseful.

She said over the six years the couple were together the offending had become more serious and the victim had become more vulnerable when she became the mother of their child. 

Judge Gillon also noted Kerr had rebuilt his relationship with his family and guessed it would have taken a lot of apologies, as Kerr nodded his head in the dock. 

‘All people are entitled to be safe in their own home, happy and well cared for,’ she said.

An order was then made, labelling Kerr as a ‘serial family violence offender’ but due to his compliance with treatment he was not required to wear an ankle monitor. 

Kerr pleaded guilty to persistently engaging in family violence against his ex-partner and mother of his children in March.

In 2021, he was sentenced to two years jail for arson after he set fire to a house owned by his parents that caused more than $260,000 worth of damage.

Kerr retired from the AFL in 2013 after playing 220 games for the West Coast Eagles.