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Jurrah denies hurting cousin in camp brawl

Former AFL footballer Liam Jurrah told police he held a crowbar, a stick and an axe during an incident last year, but he did not hurt his cousin Basil Jurrah.

Ex-AFL star Liam Jurrah pleads not guilty
Former Melbourne AFL player Liam Jurrah is preparing to face the Alice Springs Supreme Court.

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Source: AAP


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The sixth day of Jurrah's assault trial continued in the Alice Springs Supreme Court on Monday, with prosecutors playing a video of the footballer's statement to police, which was taken the day after an incident at the Little Sisters town camp in March last year.

On the video, Jurrah can be seen wearing a black printed t-shirt and sitting without a lawyer while answering questions from police for more than an hour.

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He says he went to the camp with a group of other men and objects were thrown at one of them, including a crowbar Jurrah says he picked up for self-defence.

He says he ran into the camp and was trying to protect his young nephew.

"I had a crowbar, and a wooden stick from the couch," Liam Jurrah says in the video.

But he says as soon as he saw his cousin Basil on the ground he threw the weapons away.

"(I) didn't have any fight or fight with anybody that night," he tells the police.

He also tells police that at another time on the night he held an axe he took from the hands of another man, Josiah Fry, but he denies using the weapon.

The footballer has pleaded not guilty to seriously harming Basil Jurrah.

If convicted he could face a maximum 14 years' prison.

Several witnesses have testified Liam Jurrah was holding onto a machete and some have said they saw the former footballer hitting his cousin, who allegedly sustained skull and facial fractures.

The court was earlier told the incident at Little Sisters related to a longstanding feud involving two family groups from Yuendumu - where Jurrah is from - who considered each other enemies.

The footballer has said he was angry when he went to the camp because people were taunting him about his family and hitting him.

The trial continues.


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