Manly, Sydney: Australian cricketer great Michael Slater is charged with breaching a restraining order
Juan J. Monroe 
Australian cricketer great Michael Slater is behind bars after being charged with breaching a domestic violence order.
The 51-year-old was originally arrested in Manly on October 20 and charged with harassment and using a phone to harass his former girlfriend Melanie Livesey.
She claimed Slater bombarded her with texts, calls and emails before arriving at their home in the eastern suburbs.
At 7.45am on Wednesday he was again apprehended by police and taken to Manly Police Station.
The sports legend has been charged with breaching the AVO ban/restriction, using the transportation service to threaten/harass/offend and breach of bail.
Michael Slater leaves Manly Police Station after being charged with a domestic violence incident (above)
Slater with his partner Melanie Livesey before his arrest in October
He was denied bail and appeared in Manly Local Court on Wednesday.
According to documents filed in Waverly Local Court on November 11, Slater used his cell phone between March and October this year “to threaten or harass”.
The bullying allegedly took place between October 12 and 13 in Randwick, Sydney’s east.
His lawyer James McLoughlin told the court that his client was hospitalized for “related treatment” and had been assessed by a forensic psychiatrist, NCA Newswire Previously reported.
McLoughlin said he would seek to have the case heard under Section 14 of the Mental Health Act on December 23 and indicated that a plea would be entered on that occasion.
Magistrate Carolyn Huntsman initially balked at the request saying “are you kidding me?”
The magistrate explained that the court’s busy workload was ‘terrible’ and would be inundated with bail reviews just before Christmas.
She warned McLoughlin that she had recently seen sanity claims performing very poorly and asked for his observations in advance.
Slater had played 74 Tests for Australia between 1993 and 2001. Slater is seen with fellow cricket star Michael Clarke
“I’ve seen Section 14 applications go outrageously and I’m sure you won’t, but (I want) written submissions, everything, to respect the court’s time, documents that were sent to us in advance,” Ms Huntsman said.
“It’s impossible for the court most of the time, with our workload, the way 14 articles are prepared and presented… I’m sure I don’t have to tell (someone from) your quality.”
Ms Huntsman has agreed to give Slater the December hearing date and he will return to court on December 23.
Police allege the incident took place just days after Slater was sensationally left out of Channel Seven’s cricket coverage.
His dismissal from Channel Seven was linked to his controversial comments criticizing Australia’s travel restrictions – after he flew to India to commentate on Indian Premier League competition and the Covid-19 pandemic settled down.
Michael Slater’s lawyer requested that his charges be brought under Section 14 of the Mental Health Act in November (pictured, Slater leaves court on October 20)
At one point he claimed Prime Minister Scott Morrison had “blood on his hands” for his handling of the pandemic.
The retired opening drummer told the prime minister in a series of tweets to get on his private jet and “come see dead bodies in the street”.
“Unbelievable to fume the Prime Minister on an issue that is a human crisis. The panic, the fear of every Australian in India is real!! What if you took your private jet and came to see dead bodies in the street!
Speaking after the incident, the former drummer said he was “completely overwhelmed” and didn’t want to be “disrespectful”.
“The tweets came from a place of pure desperation and wanting to go home to crying children worried about their fathers,” Slater preciously told the Courier Mail.
“It got very emotional. We arrived in Ahmedabad and passed a Covid testing site. You would see all these dead bodies on the side of the road. I have never seen anything like this in my life. It was so horribly confronting.
“If I had my time again, bearing in mind that it might have had something to do with what just happened to me at Channel 7, no I wouldn’t do it again.”
Australian cricketer great Michael Slater (pictured) was arrested over an alleged domestic harassment incident in October
Slater and his partner Melanie Livesey sold their home in Randwick in August this year for $5.65million, just a year after buying it for $3.8million.
The former cricket star played 74 Tests for Australia, scoring 5,312 runs at an average of 42.83 after making his debut on the 1993 Ashes tour of England.
The fly-half batsman also played in 42 one-day internationals, scoring just under 1,000 runs before retiring from major cricket in 2004.
Slater was recently dropped from Seven Network’s commentary team for the upcoming summer cricket season after the network opted not to renew his contract, citing budgetary pressures.
In 2021, Slater traveled to India to commentate on the Indian Premier League competition.
