Former AFL player Brodie Moles has been found guilty of assaulting his ex-partner during a drunken outburst, after he became distressed about missing out on his old club’s Grand Final moment.
The former Western Bulldogs footballer kicked and struck his then-girlfriend, Lilly Munro, on the eve of the Bulldogs’ 2016 AFL Grand Final clash with the Sydney Swans.
Moles, 40, appeared before Moorabbin Magistrates’ Court on Wednesday, where he was convicted on two assault charges involving the former model.
The court also found Moles guilty of assaulting Ms Munro’s mother. His AFL career began after he was recruited by Geelong from junior football in Tasmania, though he never played a senior match for the Cats.
He later joined the Western Bulldogs in the 2010 AFL Draft, playing 17 senior games before being delisted at the end of the 2011 season, when he was 25.
However, almost five years after his career ended, a court heard he got upset that he was not part of the Bulldogs’ Grand Final team that included several former teammates.
During a contested hearing in July, the court heard allegations that Moles was ‘very heightened and upset’ on September 30, 2016, and had been ‘drinking heavily’.
He became angry at Ms Munro about a song she had been listening to at about 6pm on September 30.
Brodie Moles, 40, (left), was found guilty of three counts of assault
Moles was found guilty of assaulting his ex-partner Lilly Munro (above) and her mother
Moles got upset after his former club made the 2016 AFL Grand Final and he wasn’t playing
Moles then threw Ms Munro onto the kitchen floor and began ‘slapping, hitting and kicking her’.
During the attack, the court heard Ms Munro’s mother and stepfather arrived at the rear of the unit in the southern Melbourne suburb of Sandringham, from where they could access the backyard.
Her mother walked to the glass door where she witnessed her daughter ‘cowering and screaming’ while Moles stood over her, kicking her, the court heard.
When Ms Munro’s mother ‘recovered from the shock of what she had seen’, she shouted through the glass door: ‘Open the door. Let me in. Leave her alone. Get off her.’
Moles, ‘in response,’ walked up to the glass door and told the mother to ‘f**k off’.
Moles then punched through a glass panel near where she was standing, causing ‘small shards of glass to strike’ her and become embedded in her chest.
Moles sustained a severe cut to his arm, the court was told.
In another harrowing incident, Moles savagely beat Ms Munro after a christening party at Werribee Hall on April 24, 2016.
Ms Munro gave evidence during the contested hearing back in July
Moles kicked and punched Ms Munro multiple times
The thug had denied the charges but was found guilty
The court heard the party was a large event with about ‘200 guests,’ and Moles ‘took advantage of the free alcohol’ and became ‘heavily intoxicated’.
Moles argued with Ms Munro after becoming ‘jealous about other men she had been speaking with,’ the court was told.
ALSO READ: September 11, 2001 Timeline: Key Events of 9/11 Explained
Moles took Ms Munro away from the hall for ‘privacy’ and led her towards some bushes.
There, Moles ‘continued to voice his jealous accusations,’ then struck Ms Munro in the face, causing her to fall.
He then picked her up and threw her into a metal fence, which collapsed on impact.
The court heard Moles stood over Ms Munro and pushed her head into the gravel, ‘[grinding] her head into the ground’ and causing her pain.
Ms Munro’s sister and her husband were driving away from the hall when the victim called out to them.
They stopped and approached Ms Munro, but Moles ‘ran off a short distance’ before ‘lying down on the ground,’ the court was told.
The sister noticed Ms Munro had ‘a lot of blood on her face’ and ‘one side of her face was swollen.’ She called a taxi and sent Ms Munro to their mother’s home in Melbourne’s inner south.
The court also heard about an incident on November 13, 2017, when Moles attended Ms Munro’s home and told her children they would be removed from her care and ‘put into foster care’.
Moles also said the children would be ‘given to their biological fathers,’ the court heard.
He told Ms Munro that ‘he and the church had a plan to carry it out,’ which caused distress to the mother and her children.
Sources tell the Daily Mail that Moles is part of a secretive church in Melbourne’s southeast.
At one stage during July’s contested hearing, Magistrate Matthew Page ordered Moles: ‘Don’t smile,’ as the assault allegation against Ms Munro’s mother was discussed in court.
‘I just think it’s laughable, Your Honour,’ Moles said, interrupting the court.
‘To be perfectly honest, I don’t care what you think… OK,’ Magistrate Page replied, moving the hearing forward.
Moles, who repeatedly interrupted his defence counsel, had previously pleaded guilty to recklessly causing injury, the court was told.
‘It’s further evidence of the accused using physical violence to control his intimate partner and though it’s a different complainant [to Ms Munro], it still shows a certain pattern of behaviour,’ the police prosecutor told the court in July.
‘And state of mind, and willingness to engage in… violence whenever things don’t go the accused’s way.’
The court heard Moles had smashed a car windscreen, causing a cut to the victim’s head, but Magistrate Page said the summary stated ‘he threw a glass which he had taken from the pub into [the victim], hitting her in the face’.
At this point, Moles interrupted the hearing again.
‘You’ve got a lawyer here, Mr Moles,’ Magistrate Page said in July.
‘I don’t know how many times I have to tell you this, Mr Moles. You have Ms Yan, a very capable lawyer here. If you want to give her instructions about something, just touch her on the back… and you tell her and she tells me.
‘It’s not helpful to have a Greek chorus in the background chirping away. It’s really distracting.’
Moles had his bail extended to front a pre-sentence hearing on November 17.