Former AFL player Nick Stevens has been jailed for nine months after being found guilty of defrauding six families through an unlicensed pool installation business in the Mildura region in 2017. The 46-year-old, who played 231 games for Carlton and Port Adelaide before retiring in 2009, was convicted in March of dishonestly obtaining financial advantage by deception, and was also found guilty of using a false document.
The County Court heard Stevens took more than $167,000 from homeowners between March and October 2017 while operating without the builder’s registration, permits, insurance or proper oversight required for pool construction. Some victims were left with unfinished excavations in their backyards, while others were left with pools that were improperly installed and not legally compliant. The court was told a stop-work order had been issued by Mildura Rural City Council in May after the first pool was found to be non-compliant, yet Stevens continued accepting money from additional clients in the following months.
In sentencing, Judge Fiona Todd said Stevens had exploited the trust of people in a regional community who relied on his word and did not immediately insist on paperwork. She said the offending had a damaging effect on the “currency of goodwill and trust” that supports small communities. The court also heard the fraud caused serious personal and financial harm, including a marriage breakdown for one family and severe economic hardship for others.
Stevens had spent 78 days in pre-sentence detention at Hopkins Correctional Centre in Ararat, where he was kept in isolation for 23 hours a day because of his notoriety as a former footballer. The court also heard that he had previously served six months in jail for domestic violence offences in 2015.
His lawyers had asked for a community corrections order, arguing he had not gambled away the money and was a vulnerable prisoner. However, prosecutors said Stevens had shown no remorse during the long-running case, which began in 2021, and argued that a prison term was appropriate. Judge Todd said his culpability increased over time because the conduct was repeated, involved a significant sum of money and caused lasting harm.
The judge found Stevens’s prospects of rehabilitation were “decent” and imposed a two-year community corrections order to begin after his release. Under that order, he will be subject to judicial monitoring, must complete 120 hours of unpaid community work and cannot leave Victoria without permission. He is expected to be released from custody in late December.
