Former AFL Player Nick Stevens May Face Prison Time

By Wade Stephens

ABC Mildura-Swan Hill

Topic: Courts

Thursday, May 21, 2026, at 5:18 pm

Ex-AFL player Nick Stevens wore prison clothes during a County Court hearing on Thursday.

In short:

Former AFL footballer Nick Stevens will be sentenced next month for cheating six Mildura families in 2017.

A jury found him guilty of 12 charges of getting money by lying after he failed to build pools as promised.

What's next?

The victims have asked for money back, and lawyers are discussing how much they should get.

Former AFL footballer Nick Stevens was told he will likely stay in jail after his sentencing next month.

The 46-year-old is in jail after a jury found him guilty in March of 12 charges of dishonestly getting money and one charge of using a fake document.

The ex-Port Adelaide and Carlton player got $167,798.75 from families by lying to them about building pools at their homes in 2017.

He did this without the required builder registration, permits, insurance, or license.

His actions left six families with poorly built pools or holes in their backyards.

During a pre-sentence hearing on Thursday, five victim impact statements were given to the County Court of Victoria, and four were read out loud.

The court was told many of the victims were not rich, had little extra money, and had their trust broken by Stevens.

Ben Knight said the situation led to the end of his marriage.

We started excited with plans for a pool and ended up with a hole in our yard for years.

Kerry Knight said she felt very stressed as a result of financial and emotional pressure.

The money lost was from years of hard work.

We had extra costs to finish the pool that should not have happened.

We lost and sold our family home.

In his impact statement, Rod Charman called Stevens immature and said he handled the matter like a child during court.

He has shown no integrity as a business person.

Tina Charman said she feels angry and resentful towards Stevens and now does not trust workers and strangers.

All of this could have been avoided if Mr. Stevens just paid us back our money and we could have moved on.

Compensation claims and precedents

The court heard Stevens agreed to pay one couple back but was resisting paying others until the amount owed was decided.

The court heard the $167,798.75 being considered for Stevens's sentence may be different from the total the victims are asking for.

The court was told Stevens paid $10,000 back to the Knights.

Nick Stevens was found guilty of fraud and deception and is waiting for his sentence.

Barrister Jim Stavris mentioned two similar cases before sentencing.

One was the sentence given to Dylan DiPierdomenico, the son of AFL legend Robert DiPierdomenico, for cheating a golfing wholesaler out of $140,000.

He was given a nine-month jail term.

The other similar case was the recent conviction of top Melbourne lawyer Norman O'Bryan, who cheated clients out of money from a class action lawsuit.

He was ordered to do 600 hours of community work as part of a four-year community corrections order.

Mr. Stavris told the court Stevens is a vulnerable prisoner because he is a well-known ex-AFL player.

He told the court that at times Stevens was isolated for 23 hours a day for his protection.

He's going to do his time harder than most, and the community won't benefit from him being in prison.

Prosecutor Toni Stokes said Stevens showed no remorse and maintained his innocence.

He's a blue-collar worker, but it's a white-collar crime.

The need for punishment is strong in this case, and anything without jail time would be inappropriate.

Judge Fiona Todd ordered a community corrections order assessment but warned Stevens he was unlikely to get a combination sentence.

The role of punishment is powerful in this case.

The persistence of the crime, the impact on those involved, means punishment is needed.

Stevens has been in custody for 52 days and will be sentenced on June 15.

Thursday, May 21, 2026, at 5:18 pm

Práctica de escucha