AFL legend Mick Malthouse has called alleged home intruders who stabbed him with a screwdriver \u201ccockatoos\u201d as he was taken to task for \u201cdepriving\u201d the trio of their liberty.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
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 \u201cpinging\u201d sound outside his top-floor unit on September 4 last year.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
Andrew Carroll, Aysar Mashu and Joshua Di Cello have been charged over the attempted home invasion.<\/p>\n
There was a \u201cchaotic\u201d scuffle on the small top landing. Malthouse said he \u201ccracked\u201d one of the men with the bar twice and was hit on the arm with a crowbar, causing a bruise.<\/p>\n
The men then allegedly fled downstairs into the basement garage with Malthouse chasing them, barefoot and in his pyjamas.<\/p>\n
The trio was trapped and scrambling after being unable to open the garage roller or exit door.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was like trying to herd cats. They were all over the place,\u201d Malthouse told the court.<\/p>\n
As he yelled at the men, one allegedly told him they \u201cgot the wrong building\u201d and that \u201csomeone owes us money\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey were like a bunch of cockatoos. Once one said it, the others said it,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
He ordered them to stand in a corner and away from the exit before he opened the door for them to leave.<\/p>\n
The trio \u201cstreamed past\u201d while Malthouse swung the exercise bar at them.<\/p>\n
He told how the second man allegedly lunged and \u201cstabbed\u201d him in the sternum with a screwdriver, making him bleed.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019ll teach you, you bastard,\u201d Malthouse alleged the man said.<\/p>\n
The third man allegedly held a crowbar in the air to strike Malthouse before he grabbed it and \u201cwhacked\u201d him on the side of the head with the exercise bar.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was conscious [that] had I not done it, the bar would\u2019ve landed on my head,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Defence lawyer John Desmond questioned Malthouse\u2019s recollection of events, including pointing to discrepancies in the evidence he delivered in court, and two signed statements he gave to police.<\/p>\n
He also accused Malthouse of trapping the three accused home invaders by delaying opening the door.<\/p>\n
\u201cFrom 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,\u201d Desmond said.<\/p>\n
\u201cI agree I did hold the door for as long as I could, knowing there was no way I could control their movements,\u201d Malthouse said.<\/p>\n
Desmond said Malthouse was justifiably angry in that moment, to which he agreed.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou made a decision to confront them and ask questions later, assault them and ask questions later. You felt entitled to,\u201d Desmond said.<\/p>\n
The hearing resumes on Tuesday.<\/p>\n
Malthouse played 174 VFL games for St Kilda and Richmond, including the latter\u2019s 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).<\/p>\n
\u2014with AAP<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"AFL legend Mick Malthouse has called alleged home intruders who stabbed him with a screwdriver \u201ccockatoos\u201d as he…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":813364,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[560],"tags":[638,64,63,55,639,85],"class_list":["post-813363","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-afl","tag-afl","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-australian-football-league","tag-australianfootballleague","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/813363","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=813363"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/813363\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/813364"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=813363"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=813363"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=813363"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}