Ashton Aubrey Hayden: Brookton-Pingelly Panthers footballer not guilty of assault on Katanning’s Alvin Eades

A country footballer accused of breaking the jaw of an opponent during a tight match is relieved the matter is finally over after a jury found him not guilty of the assault. Ashton Aubrey Hayden has spent the past three days on trial in the WA District Court defending claims that he caused Alvin Eades grievous bodily harm during the game between his side Brookton-Pingelly Panthers and the Katanning Wanderers on May 30, 2021. Mr Hayden was accused of striking the small forward during an off-the-ball incident in the third quarter of the Upper Great Southern Football League match, which was played at Quartermaine Oval in Katanning. He denied the allegations and a jury took 40 minutes to find him not guilty. During the trial, Mr Eades testified that he could not clearly remember the incident, only that after he was immediately hit he saw a player wearing the No. 39 jumper running away. He then collapsed to the ground in pain. The trial was told that Mr Hayden was wearing jumper No. 39 on the day of the game. Mr Eades teammate Tom Shanahan — a former journalist with the Great Southern Herald, which is owned by West Australian Newspapers Ltd and publishes this masthead — testified that he saw Mr Eades get bumped by an opposition player who then ran away. However, he could not clearly identify the player. The trial was also told by Mr Hayden’s brother Jordan, who was playing in the match, that he saw Mr Eades and a few others running for the ball before his brother left the contest and kicked to teammate Brad Bootsma. He also said it was possible Mr Eades’ was hurt during the contest but denied that he was deliberately hit. Mr Bootsma, a former Fremantle Docker and the coach of Brookton-Pingelly’s league side on the day, told the jury that he did not see incident but it was Mr Hayden who kicked the ball to him. Outside court, an elated Mr Hayden told The West Australian that he was “happy that the truth finally came out” and was looking forward to moving on with his life. “It’s just been a dark cloud over me, you know, mentally for me and my family,” he said. “I’m just glad that its finally over with. Now don’t have to deal with it and that’s the end of it.”