Football legend Barry Cable sexually abused woman when she was a child, judge finds

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Former AFL legend Barry Cable has been ordered to pay more than $800,000 in damages after a District Court judge found he sexually abused a woman as a child more than five decades ago.

The woman, who cannot be named for legal reasons, sued Cable for about $1 million in exemplary and aggravated damages over claims he abused her over a six-year period between the 1960s and 1970s, in a sustained attack which began when she was barely a teen.

AFL legend Barry Cable has been ordered to pay $800,000 in damages after the District Court found he had engaged in child sexual abuse dating back to his playing days in the 1960s and ’70s

In a judgment handed down on Friday morning before a packed gallery, Judge Mark Herron found Cable’s acts constituted child sex abuse and predatory behaviour and the woman suffered psychological harm as a result.

Herron ordered the former football star to pay a total of $818,700 in damages, including in lost earnings and past and future psychological treatment sought as a result of what the judge described as a breach of trust and predatory behaviour by Cable.

But the chances of damages ever being recovered was slim, with Cable declaring bankruptcy shortly before the proceedings began.

The 79-year-old has vehemently denied the allegations and declined to appear after attempting to thwart the lawsuit and have his name remain suppressed.

The complainant first reported the matter to police in the 1990s, but criminal charges against Cable have never been laid.

During the five-day trial, four other women came forward claiming to have been sexually abused as children by the triple-Sandover Medallist while he was at the height of his career playing and coaching in Perth and Melbourne.

The plaintiff’s barrister, Tim Hammond, told the court the evidence should be given significant weight because of what he deemed to be striking parallels in the accounts of the alleged victims.

The woman brought the civil action in 2019 after the state government removed the statute of limitations preventing victims from dragging their abusers to court long after the alleged assault.

Cable was widely regarded as one of the best rovers in Australian football’s history.

More to come.

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