Former Kiwis international and two-time National Rugby League
premiership winner Paul Whatuira has revealed he was on the
verge of suicide when he attacked two innocent men.
The October attack left the men with facial injuries -
including a broken nose for one - and Whatuira in a British
psychiatric hospital.
He was not charged over the assaults as he was deemed
mentally ill, and has since written to his victims expressing
remorse, the Sunday News reported.
The attacks were part of a breakdown Whatuira suffered as he
counted down to the birth of his first child; the impending
birth brought back memories of abuse he suffered as a
six-year-old, he said.
"I hit rock bottom. Things that were in the past, when I was
a kid, came back.
"It was something that I swept under the mat and it came back
to bite me with a vengeance - it nearly finished me off. Once
I was about to have my own kid - what was the happiest thing
of my life - it brought back my childhood memories and
brought up the past that I had never really told anyone
about. "
It all crept up on me and drove me to unfortunately what
happened last year."
Whatuira said he was on the brink of suicide before the
assaults.
"[Then] for some reason I got up and started running.
Unfortunately I did attack those two people," he told the
newspaper.
"I am happy that I did get arrested - I look back on it now
and I was looking for help, I just didn't know how to deal
with it.
"I can say from the bottom of my heart, what happened saved
my life." Whatuira and his fiancee, Venessa Almond, will
marry in October. Their daughter, Gabrielle Kaea Whatuira,
was born on Friday.
Whatuira, originally from Wainuiomata, played for the
Auckland Warriors, Melbourne Storm, Penrith Panthers and
Wests Tigers in the Australian NRL.
He won premierships with Penrith in 2003 and the West Tigers
two seasons later. He was also a member of the Kiwis
triumphant Tri-Nations winning squad in 2005.
Whatuira joined Huddersfield in 2008 and has been a success
since moving north, claiming a host of club awards as top try
scorer, most metres gained and coaches player of the year. He
played the last of his tests in 2007.
