News.com.au previously reported<\/a> the teen shared a victim impact statement with the court at the sentencing for Fidge and his co-offender Riley Smith.<\/p>\n\u201cI feel shame and guilt that lingers over me,\u201d she wrote. <\/p>\n
\u201cI feel guilty for my family that had to hear the story. I feel dirty, insecure, ashamed and embarrassed of my self worth, image and myself in general.\u201d<\/p>\n
She wrote that she had engaged in self-harming and been left with what she calls \u201chideous scars\u201d.<\/p>\n
Her father wrote that his outlook on life has changed forever.<\/p>\n
\u201cI spend much of my time riddled with guilt for failing to keep my daughter safe. This happened on my watch. I try to tell myself she should have been safe. I felt like I lost my girl that day.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u2018Blindsided\u2019: Award night photos hide shocking truth<\/p>\n
Jaiden Fidge met Riley Smith, 26, through an AFL group chat. They lived in different states \u2014 Smith in North Albury, Victoria and Fidge in Toowoomba, Queensland.<\/p>\n
But in February 2024, they both travelled to Victoria\u2019s Surf Coast for a 21st birthday after being invited by another member of the group chat.<\/p>\n
Smith was the first to introduce himself to the victim. He asked how old she was and she told him plainly that she was 14. She asked his age and he replied that he was 17.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis was clearly untrue,\u201d Judge Gerard Mullaly told the court in March. <\/p>\n
\u201cYou were 24 years old, significantly older than the victim.\u201d<\/p>\n
Later that night, fully aware of the girl\u2019s age, Fidge \u201clured the victim to the backyard, away from a shed where the party was being held\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou, Mr Fidge, began to kiss the victim at which time you, Mr Smith, came up from behind and pulled down her pants and underwear.\u201d<\/p>\n
In her confusion, the girl turned her phone torch on and was told by the men \u201cturn your light off\u201d.<\/p>\n
The court heard that Fidge penetrated the girl from behind while \u201cat the same time\u201d Smith \u201cput his penis in the victim\u2019s mouth\u201d.<\/p>\n
Once done, the men went back to the party where they boasted to others. Judge Mullaly said it was important that the words the men used were disclosed to the court.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou, Mr Fidge, boasted to other members of the party that you and Mr Smith had \u2018put the victim on a spit\u2019. You made the same comment again at a later point,\u201d Judge Mullaly said.<\/p>\n
\u201cI have thought carefully about repeating the disgusting words you triumphantly used to describe what you had done. They are degrading to the victim.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut I have decided to use the abhorrent words you used because they graphically give insight into your depraved thinking about the victim and indeed how you see and give little value to the dignity and autonomy of women.<\/p>\n
\u201cThese were the words that described the victim as an object with little or no value other than the joint depraved sexual gratification of you and the co-accused.\u201d<\/p>\n
The court heard that Smith contacted the victim later in the evening via Snapchat after her aunt had put her to bed, requesting that she meet him outside.<\/p>\n
When she did, he again pulled down her pants and penetrated her, the court heard.<\/p>\n
Smith was jailed for five years and 11 months with a non-parole period of three years and 10 months. His name will be added to the sex offender register for 15 years.<\/p>\n
But almost two-and-a-half years on from his crimes, the North Albury Football Netball Club where he played and won the Most Courageous Player in 2025 has just recently removed images of him from its Facebook page.<\/p>\n
The pictures were still there last week when news.com.au reached out to the club and have since been deleted.<\/p>\n
Some still remain, including two pictures of Smith holding his award on stage from the October 2025 awards night.<\/p>\n
In a statement to news.com.au, the club\u2019s vice president said: \u201cThe NAFNC had no idea about the allegations against Riley and were as blindsided as everyone when we all found out about the horrific charges earlier this year\u201d.<\/p>\n
The vice president continued: \u201cRiley had also indicated to us at the end of last year (2025) that he was not going to continue playing for the NAFNC in 2026\u201d.<\/p>\n
The crimes mirror a similar incident from 2016 when local footy players Luke Merryfull and Shaun Bloomfield raped a girl at a 21st party in regional Victoria.<\/p>\n
The pair had been drinking when a 20-year-old female known to them headed to a caravan on the property at Balmoral as the party was winding down.<\/p>\n
She went there to sleep, but the men followed her. Inside the caravan, Merryfull suggested the trio engage in a threesome. Her reply was a firm no. But they did not listen.<\/p>\n
Instead, they raped her \u2014 Merryfull first, then Bloomfield.<\/p>\n
When Merryfull was done, he told his friend: \u201cShe\u2019s all yours now\u201d.<\/p>\n
In the County Court of Victoria for the pair\u2019s sentencing, which this reporter attended in 2019, sat dozens of supporters who had travelled from Balmoral as a show of solidarity.<\/p>\n
As one local woman told me, there was never any doubt that the men would receive full support.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn a small community like this, there is a huge bias which has resulted in people taking sides with Bloomfield and Merryfull,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey have made up and spread unbelievable gossip about the victim. The supporters of the pair still do not believe that this crime happened. There has been a lot of stupidity, ignorance, emotion and unrelenting denial.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe family are lovely as is the victim. They have been completely ostracised.\u201d<\/p>\n
Speaking to the ABC\u2019s Hometown Boys podcast, which investigated the aftermath of the rape, the victim said her rapists completely dehumanised her.<\/p>\n
\u201cI felt like an animal, like I don\u2019t think it would\u2019ve mattered what I said or did. I was not a person to them in that moment,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
Read related topics:Melbourne<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"What Jaiden Fidge did to a 14-year-old girl at a party in regional Victoria is so sickening it…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":694035,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[560],"tags":[2655,638,64,63,689,55,639,119468,281983,322822,338506,2456,688,13658,338510,338509,120516,795,338500,338508,338511,338512,338505,673,338503,338513,81749,677,338518,338504,314414,338514,338499,701,233061,338516,338517,24341,148569,338502,32847,85,112667,45264,147319,10106,338507,338515,338501,21843,660],"class_list":["post-694034","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-afl","tag-abc","tag-afl","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-australia-and-new-zealand","tag-australian-football-league","tag-australianfootballleague","tag-awards-night","tag-character-reference","tag-child-sex-offender","tag-daughter-safe","tag-facebook","tag-footy-players","tag-geelong","tag-glowing-character","tag-glowing-reference","tag-group-chat","tag-inc","tag-ipswich-eagles","tag-jana-anderson","tag-judge-gerard-mullaly","tag-lovely-things","tag-multiple-attempts","tag-new-south-wales","tag-night-photos","tag-non-parole-period","tag-north-albury","tag-oceania","tag-participation-manager","tag-phone-torch","tag-positive-contributions","tag-prioritises-respectful-behaviour","tag-professional-role","tag-queensland","tag-riley-smith","tag-school-formal","tag-sex-crime","tag-sex-offender","tag-sex-offender-register","tag-sexual-penetration","tag-snapchat","tag-sports","tag-staff-member","tag-surf-coast","tag-team-environment","tag-toowoomba","tag-umpiring-feedback","tag-university-cougars","tag-unrelenting-denial","tag-vice-president","tag-victoria"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/694034","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=694034"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/694034\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/694035"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=694034"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=694034"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=694034"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}