Two footballers have been remanded in custody after pleading guilty to sexually penetrating a 14-year-old girl at a birthday party in early 2024.
Riley Glenn Smith, 26, of Albury, New South Wales, and Jaiden Fidge, 24, of Toowoomba, Queensland, appeared in the County Court at Geelong on Tuesday.
Smith pleaded guilty to two counts of sexual penetration of a child under 16, while Fidge pleaded guilty to one count of the same offence.
The offences occurred on the night of February 3 or in the early hours of February 4, 2024, at a property in Victoria’s Surf Coast Shire.
Crown prosecutor Sandra MacDougall told the court the pair had met through a Facebook Messenger group centred around AFL memes.
The victim told both men she was 14 years old early in the evening, with Smith lying and saying he was 17.
Jaiden Fidge from Toowoomba pleaded guilty to sexual penetration of a child under 16
North Albury Hoppers player Riley Smith pleaded guilty to two counts of sexual penetration of a child under 16
Witnesses overheard multiple conversations throughout the night in which the victim’s age was discussed.
Ms MacDougall told the court Fidge later instructed the victim to follow him outside, where she was ‘surrounded’ and sexually penetrated by both men.
Smith later added the victim on Snapchat, messaging her to meet him outside where he sexually assaulted her a second time.
Neither man used a condom, and DNA evidence confirmed their guilt after both denied the allegations when first interviewed by police.
The victim reported the assaults to police the following morning.
Fidge later bragged about the assault, displaying what Ms MacDougall described as a ‘contemptible’ attitude.
The victim’s mother told the court she was ‘heartbroken’ and felt exhausted from navigating the incident’s fallout, her daughter’s wellbeing, the court process, and her own feelings of guilt and shame.
‘The joy has been completely drained from my life,’ the mother said.
The two men appeared before County Court in Geelong and were remanded into custody
The victim’s father said his life had changed forever and he now suffered bouts of intense anger and depression.
He described his daughter as being in a ‘catatonic state’ when he arrived to collect her the morning after the party.
He said taking her to a forensic hospital for examination was ‘the hardest thing I’ve ever had to do’.
The victim also provided an impact statement to the court, which was not read aloud.
Judge Gerard Mullaly noted that while there was no explicit violence, the offending was inherently violent as it involved ‘domination by stronger, bigger, adult men over a young girl’.
The prosecution submitted it was a ‘higher end’ example of the crime, committed against a young victim in circumstances in which she ought to have been safe.
Barrister Sam Norton, appearing for Fidge, described the incident as a ‘stark and inexplicable aberration’ involving ‘false bravado, a stupidity, a selfishness’.
Mr Norton argued Fidge had made a ‘genuine effort to improve himself’ in the two years since the crime and had positive prospects for rehabilitation.
Silk Philip Dunn KC, appearing for Smith, told the court his client had been intoxicated on the night after drinking and smoking cannabis, but said Smith did not use that as an excuse.
‘He doesn’t blame alcohol, he blames himself,’ Mr Dunn said.
Mr Dunn told the court Smith had ‘grown up and he’s faced up’ since the incident and also had positive prospects for rehabilitation.
Both men were described in court as ardent footballers.
Fidge captained University Cougars in the Darling Downs competition in Queensland, took on an assistant coaching role, and won the Holman Medal as best and fairest in 2025.
Smith played for the North Albury Hoppers in the Ovens and Murray Football League and was handed a 10-match suspension by the league tribunal after assaulting an Albury reserves player during a match in April 2024.
Smith was found guilty of assault occasioning actual bodily harm over that incident in November 2024 and placed on a conditional release order without conviction.
Both men were remanded in custody by Judge Mullaly following Tuesday’s plea hearing.
Smith and Fidge are due to be sentenced on March 19. The offences carry mandatory sex offender registration.
