St Kilda Hero Stephen Milne Charged With Rape

AFL player Stephen Milne has been charged with four counts of rape over an alleged incident from 2004. This news has broken less than 24-hours after NRL player Blake Ferguson was stood down from the New South Wales State of Origin team after being charged with indecent assault proving that mistreatment of women by football players is omnipresent in the varying footy codes.

Milne, whose celebrated career for the St Kilda football club includes four titles as the club’s leading goalkicker, was at the centre of a police investigation in 2004, that was later dropped without charges due to a lack of evidence. However, after an extensive review Victoria Police have now confirmed they will be laying charges after the nine year interval.

“Victoria Police can confirm that it has today charged a 33 year-old man from Cheltenham with four counts of rape following an alleged incident in 2004,” a spokesperson said. “The decision to charge follows an extensive review of the initial investigation by specialist detectives within our Sexual Crimes Squad.”

The spokesperson continued saying “it is a matter of regret that this review found the initial investigation to have been substantially inadequate.  As a result, further inquiries have been conducted by the Sexual Crimes Squad and after consulting with the Office of Public Prosecutions, the decision has been made to lay charges.

“In recent years Victoria Police have implemented substantial reforms and improvements to our sex crimes investigative processes which has enabled a number of older investigations to be reviewed, offenders identified and charges laid.

“It is unfortunate for all parties concerned that this matter has taken so many years to progress, but having discussed with the alleged victim in this matter, we can confirm that our decision to lay charges accords with her wishes.  It is now important that the defendant in this matter be afforded the same procedural fairness any other member of the community would expect in these circumstances.”

Does this mean Mick Malthouse gets reimbursed the $7,500 he was fined in 2010 after calling Milne a “fucking rapist” in an on-field spray?

Via The Roar

Photo by Michael Dodge for Getty Images

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