Harrowing details of how a former footballer orchestrated a ‘Jealous, controlling and terrifying’ campaign by Domestic violence against his wife and threatened to burn her alive.
Mathew Vidic, 42, a former SANFL player from Norwood, pleaded guilty to aggravated charges of threatening to harm and kill Julia Hodge.
During the attacks on May 26 and June 3 last year, he twice threatened to set his wife on fire, once doing so while throwing gallons of gasoline and a lighter at her. Adelaide Advertiser reported.
On Tuesday, Ms Hodge, who is a mother, marathon champion and teacher, faced her ex-husband in the South Australian District Court.
In her victim statement, she described the attacks as part of a “pattern” of abuse and that Vidic repeatedly called her from prison after she was arrested.
Vidic had previously stolen her passport to prevent her from competing abroad and threatened to kill the family dog with a knife, she told the court.
“May 26 and June 3 were the most severe manifestations of a pattern of coercive control, manipulation and threats of violence to which Mathew subjected me over an extended period of time,” Hodge recalled.
Former footballer Mathew Vidic (pictured) doused his house with petrol as he threatened to set his wife on fire in a jealous rage, a court has heard
‘On May 26, he threatened to burn down our house with me and our children inside, (with) a 20-litre can of petrol that he had previously prepared, to teach me a lesson.’
The court heard she called Triple 0 but the former footballer broke down the door, grabbed her phone and hung up on the operator.
The emergency services operator attempted to call back but Ms Hodge was too afraid to try to answer and the assault only ended when her nine-year-old daughter pleaded with Vidic to leave her mother alone.
Ms Hodge did not report the incident to the police at the time because she was terrified.
“I felt powerless to protect my children and escape… I was overcome by a horrible feeling of helplessness, isolation and fear,” she told the court.
“At that moment, I had never been more afraid in my life. I was consumed by the thought that he was going to kill me and potentially our children.”
She said Vidic told her: “If I can’t keep you through love, I’ll keep you through fear” and “If I can’t have you, no one can.”
On June 3 last year, while her children were sleeping elsewhere, Vidic entered her bedroom with a 10-litre jerrycan of fuel.
He lit a lighter for 30 minutes while repeatedly threatening to set his wife on fire as she lay in bed.
Vidic also verbally abused her, accusing her “of false things and calling me horrible things, due to his severe jealousy and paranoia.”
The mother recalled feeling helpless, vulnerable and powerless as Vidic poured gasoline on the nightstand and the floor; the lighter was near my head with a live flame.
She thought she would be “burned alive that night, particularly if she said the wrong thing.”
But after recording the assault on her phone, Ms Hodge managed to escape and contacted police.
Vidic was arrested that night and has been in custody ever since.
The court heard Vidic had been diagnosed with narcissistic personality disorder, bipolar disorder type 2 and intermittent explosive disorder.
But his ex-wife told the court that none of these conditions diminished his crimes against “those he should have been protecting” in “the place where we should have been safest.”
Although Ms Hodge was relieved he pleaded guilty, she fears there could be “potential consequences” for her for testifying against him.
She also told the court that she and her children would suffer for years.
Vidic’s lawyer, Peter Morrison, said his client was mortified and remorseful and vowed not to try to contact his ex-wife, Advertiser reported.
He told the court that Vidic’s father had abused his mother and that she had killed him in self-defense.
Mr Morrison said there was no excuse for Vidic’s crimes but they were “explained” by his family history.
Old sports injuries that left him unable to work caused Vidic to become a stay-at-home father, but he began drinking compulsively while the children were at school.
A former footballer orchestrated a “jealous, controlling and terrifying” campaign of domestic violence against his wife and threatened to burn her alive (file image)
In doing so, he worsened existing mental health problems and the jealousy he felt over Ms Hodge’s absences from the home, the court heard.
Vidic’s lawyer requested that his client’s sentence be backdated to the date of his arrest nearly 15 months ago and that he be allowed to serve the remainder of his time under house arrest.
Judge Rauf Soulio ordered an investigative report on house arrest, but warned Vidic not to get “false hopes.”
Vidic remains in pre-trial detention awaiting sentencing in October.
