Mathew Vidic: Former Norwood SANFL star splashed litres of petrol around his house as he threatened to set his super fit wife on FIRE during ‘controlling and terrifying’ campaign of abuse

Shocking details have emerged in court about how a former footballer ‘jealous, controlling and fearful’ campaign by domestic violence against his wife and threatened to burn her alive.

Mathew Vidic, 42, a former SANFL player with Norwood, has pleaded guilty to serious charges of threatening to harm and killing 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 pouring gallons of gasoline over the woman and waving a lighter. Adelaide Advertiser reported.

On Tuesday, Ms Hodge, a mother, marathon runner and teacher, confronted her ex-husband in the South Australian District Court.

In her victim impact statement, she described how the attacks were part of a “pattern” of abuse and that Vidic repeatedly called her from prison after she was arrested.

Vidic previously stole 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 serious manifestations of a pattern of coercive control, manipulation and threats of violence to which Mathew subjected me over an extended period of time,” Ms. Hodge recalled.

‘On May 26, he threatened to set our house on fire, with me and our children inside, using a 20-liter jerry can of gasoline that he had prepared earlier, to teach me a lesson.’

The court heard that she had called Triple 0 but the former footballer had kicked in the door, taken her phone and hung up.

The emergency operator tried to call back, but Mrs Hodge did not dare answer the phone. The attack only stopped when their nine-year-old daughter Vidic begged her mother to leave her alone.

Mrs Hodge did not report the incident to the police at the time because she was terrified.

“I felt powerless, I couldn’t protect my children and escape… I was overwhelmed by a terrible sense of helplessness, isolation and fear,” she told the court.

‘At that moment I had never been as scared as I was now. I was overwhelmed by the thought that he would kill me and possibly our children.’

She said Vidic told her, “If I can’t hold you with love, I’ll hold you with fear” and “if I can’t have you, no one can.”

On June 3 last year, while their children were staying elsewhere, Vidic entered their bedroom with a 10-liter jerry can full of fuel.

He held a lighter burning for 30 minutes and repeatedly threatened to set his wife on fire while she lay in bed.

Vidic also verbally abused her, accused her of untrue things and called me horrible names, out of jealousy and paranoia.

The mother remembers feeling helpless, vulnerable and powerless as Vidic poured petrol on the bedside table and the floor and the lighter showed an open flame near my head.

She thought she would be ‘burned alive that night, especially if I said the wrong thing’.

But after recording the attack on her phone, Ms Hodge managed to escape and called police.

Vidic was arrested that night and has been in custody ever since.

The court heard that Vidic had been diagnosed with narcissistic personality disorder, bipolar 2 disorder and intermittent explosive disorder.

But his ex-wife told the court that none of the conditions mitigated his crimes against “those he should have protected” in “the place where we should have been safest”.

Although Mrs Hodge is relieved that he has pleaded guilty, she fears there are “potential consequences” for her if she testifies 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 aggrieved and remorseful and promised not to attempt to contact his ex-wife, the Advertiser reported.

He told the court that Vidic’s father had abused his mother and that she had killed him in self-defence.

Mr Morrison said there was no excuse for Vidic’s crimes, but they were “explained” by his family history.

Due to old sports injuries Vidic could not work and he became a stay-at-home dad. But when the children were at school, he started drinking heavily.

This exacerbated his existing mental health problems and the jealousy he felt about Mrs Hodge’s absence from the home, the court heard.

Vidic’s lawyer requested that his client’s sentence be backdated to the date of his arrest almost 15 months ago and that he serve the remainder of his sentence under house arrest.

Judge Rauf Soulio ordered an investigation report into the house arrest, but warned Vidic not to get “false hope”.

Vidic will remain in custody until his sentence is announced in October.