http://www.dailytelegraph.news.com.a...001026,00.html


Casey's tough gig to get AVO

By LILLIAN SALEH

February 15, 2006

IT was one of the hardest performances of Australian Idol champion Casey
Donovan's life.

The 2004 winner yesterday gave evidence against her father Mervin
Donovan, whom she claims assaulted her after a gig, in a bid to get a
permanent apprehended violence order against him.

Bursting into tears on several occasions, Donovan told Burwood Local
Court she was assaulted by her estranged father in August last year
after a performance at The Basement at Circular Quay.

She told the court she had stopped to say hello to Mr Donovan and his
wife Susan when Susan "kind of grabbed me and wanted to talk to me
separately".

She became "nervous and anxious" while speaking to her father's wife.

"She [Susan] was starting to get closer and was in my personal space,"
she said.

Donovan told the court her father's wife had upset her by bringing up
the death of her grandfather and telling her that her father loved her
very much.

"When Susan pulled me away, she was talking about my pop [and] Father's
Day. Why that night to pick Father's Day when for 15 years he hadn't
....," she said, before breaking down in tears.

The situation got worse when Mr Donovan allegedly slammed a door on her
mother Tracey Axford's leg.

When the singer went to her mother's aid, her father grabbed her and
dragged her down a flight of stairs, tearing her shirt before hitting a
wall.

Asked why she felt the need for a permanent AVO, Donovan said: "Because
I am scared.

"If it would happen, or if it could happen again, I don't know what I
would do.

"What made him do it that night, I can't understand. What if I were to
be at a gig some other night and it happened again?"

The hearing will resume in April.