AFL great dubs alleged home invaders ‘cockatoos’
AFL premiership coach Mick Malthouse has recounted the moment he caught three men allegedly trying to break into his home and was stabbed while letting them go.
Source: AAP
AFL legend Mick Malthouse has called alleged home intruders who stabbed him with a screwdriver “cockatoos” as he was taken to task for “depriving” the trio of their liberty.
The former Collingwood and West Coast premiership coach appeared in the Melbourne Magistrates Court on Monday to give evidence in a hearing for three men who allegedly tried to break into his East Melbourne unit.
Malthouse, 72-year-old AFL/VFL games record holder for coaching, said he was going off to sleep next to his wife Nanette when he heard a unique “pinging” sound outside his top-floor unit on September 4 last year.
Picking up an exercise bar, he went out to investigate the noise, only to find the three men allegedly clamouring outside his door with a crowbar.
Andrew Carroll, Aysar Mashu and Joshua Di Cello have been charged over the attempted home invasion.
There was a “chaotic” scuffle on the small top landing. Malthouse said he “cracked” one of the men with the bar twice and was hit on the arm with a crowbar, causing a bruise.
The men then allegedly fled downstairs into the basement garage with Malthouse chasing them, barefoot and in his pyjamas.
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The trio was trapped and scrambling after being unable to open the garage roller or exit door.
“It was like trying to herd cats. They were all over the place,” Malthouse told the court.
As he yelled at the men, one allegedly told him they “got the wrong building” and that “someone owes us money”.
“They were like a bunch of cockatoos. Once one said it, the others said it,” he said.
He ordered them to stand in a corner and away from the exit before he opened the door for them to leave.
The trio “streamed past” while Malthouse swung the exercise bar at them.
He told how the second man allegedly lunged and “stabbed” him in the sternum with a screwdriver, making him bleed.
“That’ll teach you, you bastard,” Malthouse alleged the man said.
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The third man allegedly held a crowbar in the air to strike Malthouse before he grabbed it and “whacked” him on the side of the head with the exercise bar.
“I was conscious [that] had I not done it, the bar would’ve landed on my head,” he said.
Defence lawyer John Desmond questioned Malthouse’s recollection of events, including pointing to discrepancies in the evidence he delivered in court, and two signed statements he gave to police.
He also accused Malthouse of trapping the three accused home invaders by delaying opening the door.
“From where they were standing, there was no other way to get past you. Their liberty was deprived, Malthouse, in those seconds, those minutes by you,” Desmond said.
“I agree I did hold the door for as long as I could, knowing there was no way I could control their movements,” Malthouse said.
Desmond said Malthouse was justifiably angry in that moment, to which he agreed.
“You made a decision to confront them and ask questions later, assault them and ask questions later. You felt entitled to,” Desmond said.
The hearing resumes on Tuesday.
Malthouse played 174 VFL games for St Kilda and Richmond, including the latter’s 1980 premiership, before a record-breaking 718-game coaching career at the Western Bulldogs, West Coast, Collingwood and Carlton, masterminding three premierships (1992, 1994 and 2010).
—with AAP
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