Former VFL and NRL rookie Shem Tatupu jailed over ‘abhorrent’ attack on partner

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A New Zealand former cross-code sportsman has been jailed for what a judge described as an “abhorrent” and “protracted” attack on his former partner, who still carries a knife fragment in her skull.

Former Hawthorn VFL and Melbourne Storm rookie Shem Tatupu, 30, was sentenced in the Victorian Supreme Court to a head term of 12 years and two months’ imprisonment, with a minimum non-parole period of nine years.

Tatupu pleaded guilty to common assault, non-fatal strangulation and intentionally causing serious injury over a nine-hour ordeal in May 2025.

Controlling behaviour before the attack

The offending occurred after Tatupu’s partner moved into the home he shared with his mother about a month into their relationship in 2025.

Once living together, Tatupu began questioning why she was messaging friends and imposed increasingly restrictive rules on her daily life.

He:

• forbade her from speaking to anyone at the gym
• demanded she give up her job as a dental nurse so she could act like a “traditional” woman
• discouraged her from seeing family and friends
• asked her to make what he called the “ultimate sacrifice” by leaving social media

The woman agreed to give up social media in an attempt to make him happy and prove her loyalty.

“Over time your conduct made her feel like she was being suffocated and that she was on a leash,” Justice James Elliott told Tatupu during sentencing.

‘Horrific and degrading’ nine-hour ordeal

Three months later, the woman ended the relationship, no longer willing to tolerate his controlling behaviour.

Tatupu initially agreed to the separation, but soon reversed his position. On May 19, 2025, he subjected his former partner to what the judge described as “horrific and degrading” attacks over nine hours.

He verbally abused her and dragged her into the bedroom, where he held her down on the bed, punched her in the head and strangled her until she was unable to breathe.

The woman survived by pretending to be dead so he would stop. “Not surprisingly, she feared for her life,” Justice Elliott said.

Knife attack and lasting injuries

Tatupu kept the woman captive in his bedroom, allowing her to leave only to use the bathroom. The violence escalated when he launched another assault in front of his mother.

During that incident, the victim managed to run outside, but Tatupu chased her to a neighbour’s garage. There, he held an 18.5cm knife to her neck before stabbing her in the back of the head four times.

In the course of the attack, he referred to a previous girlfriend and told the victim: “I let her get away, but not you.”

The woman sustained multiple skull fractures. The tip of the knife was permanently embedded within a fracture and remains in her skull.

Sentencing, parole and likely deportation

Tatupu’s victim sat in court alongside family and supporters during the sentencing hearing, wiping away tears as Justice Elliott described her as strong and courageous.

The judge found Tatupu’s actions were serious examples of each offence and that the sustained conduct was committed against a “vulnerable and isolated victim”.

Tatupu, who looked straight ahead as the sentence was delivered, spoke briefly to his supporters in court as he was led away.

Key elements of the sentence include:

• head sentence: 12 years and two months’ imprisonment
• minimum non-parole period: nine years
• time already served: 539 days in pre-sentence detention
• earliest possible parole date: 2034

As a New Zealand national, Tatupu will likely be deported to New Zealand when his jail term ends, under the Australian framework that allows visa cancellation for non-citizens convicted of serious crimes.

The case was heard in the Victorian Supreme Court, part of the state’s criminal justice system that operates alongside national migration and character provisions under Australia’s Migration Act.

Career background and impact on sport

Tatupu is a former cross-code athlete who played Australian rules football and rugby league at professional or semi-professional level.

He played 22 games with Hawthorn’s Victorian Football League (VFL) side before switching codes to join NRL club Melbourne Storm as a rookie in 2016.

He is the son of Tony Tatupu, a foundation player for the New Zealand Warriors, the Auckland-based club that competes in Australia’s National Rugby League.

While Tatupu had not established himself as a senior first-grade regular at the time of his offending, the seriousness of the crimes and the length of the prison term effectively remove him from the high-performance system in both Australian rules and rugby league for the foreseeable future.

Elite competitions such as the NRL operate under integrity and conduct frameworks that assess off-field behaviour alongside on-field performance. Even after release, a player in Tatupu’s position would face significant scrutiny from clubs, competitions and sponsors over any potential return to professional sport.

The case also comes amid broader efforts across elite sport to address violence against women and harmful power dynamics in intimate relationships involving current and former athletes. Governing bodies in major professional leagues have been under increasing pressure to demonstrate that serious criminal conduct away from the field is treated as a core integrity issue, not a private matter.

Domestic and family violence remains a criminal offence in both Australia and New Zealand, with police, courts and specialist agencies encouraging current or former partners of athletes to report abuse in the same way as any other member of the public. In jurisdictions such as Victoria, courts can make intervention orders alongside criminal penalties as part of the broader legal response, while sports organisations assess how convictions intersect with their own participation and eligibility rules.

Tatupu will serve the remainder of his sentence in Victoria before any parole decision in 2034. Any later move back into organised sport would sit against the backdrop of his convictions, time in custody and the lasting injuries suffered by his victim, who continues to live with a knife fragment embedded in her skull.