AFL woman-basher Nicky Winmar begs for mercy with lawyer's laughable 'Braveheart-style' speech - as court hears of prideful fixation with 'I'm black and proud' protest

By WAYNE FLOWER, SENIOR NEWS REPORTER, AUSTRALIA Published: 05:28, 6 August 2026 | Updated: 05:28, 6 August 2026 They may tear down disgraced former AFL star Nicky Winmar's statue, but they will never erase his status as an Australian hero, a court has heard.  In a speech reminiscent of Mel Gibson's famous war cry in Braveheart, Winmar's high-profile barrister delivered a speech that would gain a three-star rating on the online review aggregation platform Rotten Tomatoes.  Winmar was last month found guilty of three counts of unlawful assault and common law assault against his female victim. In response, he was swiftly removed from the Australian Football Hall of Fame and a bronze statue of him was removed from Perth Stadium.  'Those awards and those recognitions meant a lot to him,' his barrister Dermot Dann KC told the Bendigo Magistrates' Court on Thursday.  'They can erase his statue and they can erase his name from their halls of fame, but what they'll never be able to erase, in the hearts and minds of many, many people who care about racism and intolerance and injustice, is the memory of his courageous stand that day at Victoria Park in the face of massive abuse and vitriol and hate. They will never erase that.' Winmar had for years hung his hat on his actions on April 17, 1993 when he pointed to his skin as feral Collingwood fans racially abused him.  'He did change society with his stand,' Mr Dann continued. Barrister Dermot Dann KC (left) has pulled out every trick in the book to try and keep his thug client Nicky Winmar (right) out of jail. They are pictured outside court on Thursday  Gibson's Wallace had famously asked if his warriors would trade all the days from then until death for 'one chance, just one chance, to come back here and tell our enemies that they may take our lives, but they'll never take our freedom!' The court heard Winmar had been abusing women as far back as 1997 when he was convicted of charges related to his ex-wife. In 1999, he was convicted for breaching an intervention order and assaulting the same woman.  In 2019, he bashed a taxi driver just doing his job.   Mr Dann could not help but concede Winmar had 'many lowlights'.  Winmar's victim, who cannot be identified for legal reasons, told the court in May that she was 'fearful' for her life during the incident in May 2025 at Cohuna, in Victoria's north. The prosecution told the court that Winmar grabbed and twisted the woman's arm, dragged her by her hair and smashed her head against a wooden door four times. Winmar sat in court on Thursday with his hands covering his ears as if he could block out the evil he had done.  Barrister Dermot Dann KC did his best legal rendition of Mel Gibson's William Wallace (pictured) speech inside a Bendigo court on Thursday  His victim, who appeared in court from a secure room so that she didn't need to face her abuser in person, explained the violence he had committed against her, as well as her ongoing trauma.  'As a result of the crime, I contemplated shaving all of my hair off so nobody could ever pull it again and I know it would be a loss of my identity and I thought if I shave my hair then it would never happen again and I would be safe. I was so close to doing it,' she said.  Despite Winmar being acquitted of a fourth charge of intentionally causing injury, the woman explained how his assault had long-lasting effects on her arm.  'As a result of the trauma, I suffered extreme pain in my right arm for extended periods of time,' she said.  'The pain was excruciating... there was one occasion where it was my child's birthday and I was keen to celebrate with them but I was unable to.  'The pain in my arm was so debilitating that I couldn't drive that distance to Melbourne. I didn't want my family to see the damage. I had lost all movement in it. It just wasn't right.' During a three-day contested hearing in May, prosecutor Annina Tropea told the court that photos of the woman's arm showed bruising and swelling consistent with her version of events. '[The woman] was an honest, reliable and credible witness,' Ms Tropea said. Winmar's beloved statue in Perth was demolished last month after his conviction  Winmar was long praised for his efforts against racism, but is now a convicted woman basher The court was also played an emotional Triple Zero call from the night, in which the woman told the call-taker that she was hiding and had been hit. Mr Dann told the court that the allegations did not happen, and Winmar had made contact with the woman's arm in self defence. On Thursday, Winmar, now aged 59, also pleaded guilty to two charges of persistent contravention of family violence orders involving the woman.  The court heard that, between May 15 and May 20 last year, Winmar breached the safety notice 38 times, primarily by sending text messages.  'Can you please call me please? I'm scared,' the coward texted.  The court heard that he sent photos of himself, locations and other personal images. Between May 21 and June 12 that year, he committed 52 breaches, including 50 breaches by text message or other contact. Winmar is filthy that he lost his Australian Football Hall of Fame gong (pictured in 2022) One breach was by attending her workplace and another when he attended her residence and attempted to speak to her. When police finally caught up with Winmar to talk to him about the breaches, he dismissed them as harmless interactions. 'I text nice, not threats, nothing, just nice things,' he told police.  Mr Dann urged the court to let his client off with a community-based order rather than jailing him.  He urged the court to consider Winmar's contribution to Australian society, his rehabilitation efforts, including nearly a year of alcohol abstinence. He further pointed to Winmar's engagement with counselling and behaviour-change programs, his age, background and personal circumstances. He argued that despite the seriousness of the offending, Winmar had not reached the point where imprisonment was the only option and urged the magistrate to consider a community correction order. Winmar will be sentenced at a later date.  He made no comment outside court.