Source: The Canberra Times

Former AFL footballer Nick Stevens has been sentenced to nine months in jail for defrauding six families through an unlicensed pool installation business in 2017, News.Az reports, citing ABC News.

The 46-year-old, who played 231 games for Carlton Football Club and Port Adelaide Football Club, was found guilty in March of dishonestly obtaining a financial advantage by deception.

He accepted payments from homeowners in the Mildura region in 2017 for swimming pools, despite not holding a builder’s registration, the required permits, or appropriate insurance.

As a result, victims were left with poorly installed pools or unfinished excavations in their backyards.

During sentencing, County Court Judge Fiona Todd stated that Stevens had exploited the trust and goodwill of his victims.

“They asked to see the documentation, you gave them false reassurance,” she told the court.

"What you did had a corrosive effect on the currency of goodwill and trust [that] does so much good in the community, especially in a small one."

A pre-sentencing hearing was told Stevens's offending resulted in a marriage breakdown for one of the families involved, and that other victims had been left financially crippled.

He spent 78 days in pre-sentence detention at Hopkins Correctional Centre in Ararat where he was isolated for 23 hours a day for his protection, due to his notoriety as a former footballer.

The court heard Stevens had previously spent six months in jail for domestic violence offences in 2015.

Stevens, who played 231 AFL games before retiring in 2009, was also convicted of using a false document.

Stevens became a distributor for Leisure Pools Australia in Mildura in 2017, having previously installed legally compliant pools under the supervision of a registered builder.

He then went out on his own without the required licence, registration, permits or insurance.

Six families paid him more than $167,000 between March and October that year.

It came despite Mildura Rural City Council issuing a stop work order in May after the first victim's pool, which was not connected to a pump or water, was found to not be legally compliant.

Stevens continued to accept payments from other victims in June, August, September and October.

He never lodged a permit application for the pools, or sought a building contract, insurance or oversight from a registered builder.

Stevens's lawyers had previously argued for a community corrections order, noting his client had not gambled the money away, and was a vulnerable prisoner.

However, Crown prosecutors said Stevens had demonstrated no remorse since court proceedings began in 2021 and that prison time was warranted.

Judge Todd said Stevens's culpability rose as time went on.

She considered the repeated nature of the conduct, the amount of money obtained, the consequences for the victims and the enduring period over which the offending unfolded.

She also considered the lengthy delay of the case, and described Stevens's prospects of rehabilitation as "decent".

Stevens will be released from custody in late December and begin a two-year community corrections order.

It includes judicial monitoring and orders to carry out 120 hours of unpaid community work and not leave Victoria without permission.

News.Az 

By Nijat Babayev