Former AFL player Liam Jurrah denied bail, ready to plead guilty

Ex-Australian Football League player Liam Jurrah, who is in jail for the past few months over the charges of domestic violence, has been denied bail by a magistrate in an Alice Springs court.

He is expected to appear before the court to plead guilty to charges of aggravated assault and breaching a domestic violence order.

Jurrah’s lawyers told the court that he wished to represent himself while applying for bail. As a result, Magistrate Daynor Trigg thought that he was joking and gave him a few seconds to decide and apply for bail. After that, he immediately refused him bail, reported ABC .

He was also refused bail last week after claiming he had to attend a "sorry business" following his grandma's death. He told the court that the bail was necessary as he wanted to pay respect to his deceased grandmother, assuring that he would report to the police station every day.

Meanwhile, Jurrah’s lawyers have indicated that he would be pleading guilty when he appears before the court early next week.

Jurrah, who is only 26-year-old, has been in jail in Alice Springs after police found out that he was involved in a series of family disputes and for several other tantrums post his departure from AFL.

Jurrah was the first Aboriginal man to play in the AFL. He quickly became famous with his style of free-flowing footy. But his professional career was short-lived due to the AFL’s inherent marginalisation of indigenous players and his frequent disputes with his relatives that ultimately brought him back to Central Australia.

“We will never see another player like Liam Jurrah come out of a community,’’ one AFL insider said. “It’s just too hard for them to cope.’’ Back in 2013, he was caught by the police for throwing tantrums; one of them included assaulting his girlfriend in a drunken fight.

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