Sam Kerr’s footy star brother Daniel punched his ex with his keys and licked her blood off his hands – as his domestic violence reign of terror is exposed in sickening detail

Former AFL champion Daniel Kerr has avoided jail for inflicting terrifying violence on his former partner over a six-year period.

The WA District Court was told Kerr, 41, the brother of Matildas star Sam Kerr, had strangled and assaulted his former partner several times and used coercive behavior that was controlling, emotionally and financially abusive between 2013 and 2019.

During sentencing on Friday, Judge Wendy Gillon said Kerr was suffering from an undiagnosed mental illness at the time of the offense and suspended a four-and-a-half year prison sentence for two years.

The former West Coast Eagles player was diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia in November 2022, with the court told he may have been suffering from associated symptoms for at least five years.

Judge Gillon said Kerr was unwell at the time of the offense and could not recognize his illness, but had been receiving regular treatment since his diagnosis.

‘Over the past year you have been under strict bail conditions, which you have worked hard to achieve. It is in the best interest of the community that you continue your rehabilitation,” she said.

The court was told the couple’s relationship was marred by Kerr’s drug and alcohol use, and his behavior deteriorated during their time together.

The prosecutor told the court that Kerr’s former partner moved in with him in January 2014 when they had an argument.

The victim left and went to a friend’s house, where Kerr burned her clothes and sawed her bed in half with a chainsaw.

On another occasion, Kerr punched his ex-partner in the face while holding his keys, leaving a large gash on her face.

The court was told he then licked the blood off the keys.

In another incident, five months after the couple had a child, Kerr strangled his partner while she held their baby.

He controlled her finances, routinely searched her phone, stopped her from leaving the house and once dragged her out of bed by her hair.

His lawyer Kate Turtley-Chappel said Kerr accepted the facts and took full responsibility for the crime which included violence, threats, intimidation and verbal and emotional abuse.

Ms Turtley-Chappel said domestic abuse was a scourge on the community and she would say nothing to change that.

She said the only appropriate punishment was a prison sentence and that Kerr took full responsibility for his conduct, but she asked the court to suspend it.

“The offense is disturbing and alarming and that is accepted,” she said.

“It would have been terrifying for the victim.”

In a victim impact statement, his former partner said that although she suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder, she was no longer afraid of Kerr now that he was receiving treatment.

Passing her sentence, Judge Gillon told the former AFL champion: “You have fallen significantly from grace, Mr Kerr,” and accepted Kerr was remorseful.

She said that in the six years the couple had been together, the crime had become more serious and the victim had become more vulnerable when she became the mother of their child.

Judge Gillon also noted that Kerr had rebuilt his relationship with his family and suspected that would have required a lot of apologies, as Kerr nodded his head in the dock.

“All people have the right to be safe in their own homes, happy and well cared for,” she said.

An order was subsequently issued labeling Kerr as a “domestic violence offender,” but because he was compliant with treatment, he was not required to wear an ankle monitor.

Kerr pleaded guilty to persistent domestic violence against his ex-partner and mother of his children in March.

In 2021, he was sentenced to two years in prison for arson after setting fire to his parents’ home, causing more than $260,000 in damage.

Kerr retired from the AFL in 2013 after playing 220 games for the West Coast Eagles.