Former Australia batter Slater sentenced for domestic violence

SYDNEY (Agencies): Former Australian Test cricketer Michael Slater has been handed a prison term for domestic violence offences but will immediately be released from custody on a suspended sentence. His release faced a potential delay as his legal representatives rushed to finalise a separate charge of drink and drug driving. Slater, 55, was sentenced in Maroochydore District Court on Tuesday after pleading guilty to seven charges including two counts of choking a woman.

The charges that also included stalking, assault and burglary related to offences committed on Queensland’s Sunshine Coast in December 2023. He also sent a woman abusive messages, with police finding some when conducting a welfare check on Slater in March 2024. Slater has spent more than 12 months in custody and made multiple failed attempts to secure bail. Judge Glen Cash on Tuesday sentenced Slater to four years’ imprisonment to be partially suspended after time served. The remainder of Slater’s sentence is suspended for five years, during which he will risk being returned to custody if he commits another serious offence.

Slater was cleared for release after he also pleaded guilty to a drink and drug driving offence in Maroochydore Magistrates Court following his domestic violence sentencing. Supreme Court Justice Paul Freeburn last August heard Slater had a long history of mental health conditions and a number of diagnoses including alcohol use disorder. Defence barrister Gregory McGuire at the time argued for bail conditions that included Slater moving to NSW and going into rehabilitation. “He was clearly in the grip of a terrible alcohol addiction,” Mr McGuire previously said. A NSW magistrate in 2022 convicted Slater of common assault, breaching a restraining order and two other offences against a woman. Slater was drunk and erratic when he yanked the woman’s hoodie and she fell into a kitchen benchtop. Over the following months, he tried to email, text and call her more than 100 times in breach of a court order. After making his debut during the 1993 Ashes tour, Slater played 74 Tests for Australia, amassing 5312 runs at an average of 42.83 with 14 hundreds. He also played 42 ODIs. Slater retired from cricket in 2004, embarking on a television commentary career.