Ex-AFL and NRL rookie Shem Tatupu has admitted to a horrific domestic assault on a woman.
The 30-year-old pleaded guilty in the Supreme Court on Monday to three charges including intentionally strangling, choking or suffocating the victim and intentionally causing her serious injury.
The assault occurred at a property in Parkdale on May 19 last year.
Tatupu, previously signed with the Hawks and Melbourne Storm, spoke only to enter his guilty pleas.
His charges were downgraded from an initial charge of attempted murder, which carries a maximum term of 25 years’ imprisonment.
However he still faces the prospect of years behind bars.
The maximum sentence for non-fatal strangulation, choking, or suffocation is five years’ imprisonment or 10 years’ imprisonment if the perpetrator intentionally causes injury.
The court heard Tatupu had a history of violence.
He admitted to committed unlawful assault, common law assault and intentionally damaging property on March 3.
He will face a plea hearing in October.
The Hawks recruited Tatupu as a Category B rookie at the end of 2013.
In a social media post after he signed with the AFL club he described himself as a player who “likes to get amongst everything and then get on the outside and use my speed and agility’’.
Tatupu was with the Hawks for two seasons, appearing in the VFL for Box Hill Hawks’ senior and reserves teams.
He walked away from football in 2016 to join NRL’s Melbourne Storm.
In the past few years, he has been working as a security guard while playing football locally.
Tatupu had a stint with Frankston in the VFL in 2019 and then played in the Southern and Mornington Peninsula leagues.