fabian francis

[bayman]

Former NT AFL star on violence charges

REBEKAH CAVANAGH

January 12th, 2009


TERRITORY-born former AFL star Fabian Francis has appeared in court charged with repeatedly bashing his ex-wife over more than a decade.

Francis, 35, faced 50 domestic violence charges - most allegedly committed against former wife, suspended policewoman Debra Buckskin - in Adelaide's Holden Hill Magistrates Court.

The father-of-four also faced seven counts of threatening to kill her.

The alleged offences occurred between 1998 and February last year - one on Christmas Day in 2007 at her home.

The most recent charges relate to an incident in February 2008 in which Francis allegedly threatened to kill Ms Buckskin and damaged the front security door of her SA home. The next day he was charged with breaching a domestic violence restraining order imposed in the same Adelaide-based court in June 2005 and police granted him bail.

When Francis appeared in court last Thursday, Prosecutor Karen Parouchais handed the magistrate police and witness statements and asked for a six-week adjournment for documents to be provided.

Francis' lawyer Brett Dixon asked that the former footballer be excused from attending the next hearing next month.

Francis, who married Ms Buckskin in 1999 and said "she put me on the straight and narrow and helped me", made no comment.

Born in Darwin, Francis played for NTFL club Southern Districts before moving to Adelaide in 1992 to play for Port Adelaide in the SANFL.

He did not play a senior game for Port but joined AFL club Melbourne and made his AFL debut in 1993. He played 109 AFL matches for Port Adelaide, Melbourne and Brisbane in 1991-2001, but a knee injury ended his career in 2002.

His former wife, 36, did not appear in court. She is listed to face trial in the District Court later this month over alleged involvement to pass confidential police information to members of an outlaw motorcycle gang.

She was arrested in October 2006 and suspended as a patrol officer at Tea Tree Gully police station.

[Jimmy_041]

Sounds like they deserve each other

[JK]

This is pretty much what was reported in the Advertiser last week ... They didn't allow comment on it for legal reasons so we decided to do the same.

Therefore I'll leave the thread here for anyone who hasn't heard this news, but I'll lock it to prevent further comment.