KEY POINTS:
Tony Veitch has spoken out about the night that he beat ex-girlfriend Kristin Dunne-Powell so badly that she had to be hospitalised.
In an interview with broadcasting colleague Paul Holmes in today's Herald on Sunday, the sports journalist and commentator spoke candidly about the incident, and how
counselling has helped him.
It has been reported that he paid Dunne-Powell $170,000 after the incident.
The radio and television personality this week admitted, with wife Zoe Halford by his side at a press conference, to beating Dunne-Powell.
He has now been removed from TVNZ's Olympics coverage team.
Many New Zealanders have reacted furiously to the admission, with nzherald.co.nz readers venting during the week.
"Imagine yourself in the worst possible situation with your partner," the sportscaster told the Herald on Sunday. "Something terrible had happened and we both knew that. This was a Sunday night. After about three hours of being with her at the hospital I had to go and jump on Radio Sport for a radio show for a couple of hours."
At that point, Veitch only thought his beaten girlfriend had suffered bruising, but it was only later that he discovered the full extent of her injuries. He said the two maintained contact in the weeks after the incident before reaching a financial agreement.
"She came to me and we reached an agreement that I would pay her to cover her medical expenses, loss of income and to help her get on with her life again," Veitch said.
"I can't say more than that. We both agreed it was going to finally bring closure for both of us to move on in our relationships with our respective partners."
"I hope what I've always hoped for, that she's happy. She's incredibly talented, she's motivated and when we were good we were in a fabulous relationship. When were bad, it was tough.
He said that the pair met again a year ago, just before Dunne-Powell got married.
"I was stoked because she found who she considered was her partner for life."
He told Holmes during the interview that he had always expected the shameful details of the incident to be made public.
"I prayed it wouldn't and I told everybody close in my life," he admitted.
"Everybody in my life who need to know what happened that night knew.
"And every single time my phone rang, I would think 'this is it, this is the day'. And the phone call came on a Sunday, and hour and a half before I did One News and I was nearly vomiting on the news."
Veitch said counselling has helped him to face up to the damage done by the incident.
"The one bright spot for me out of this, but the only thing that's kept me sane this week is that if everything hadn't happened I would not have learned lessons, I would not have gone to counselling.
"I would not have learned how to have a relationship and I would not have fallen in love and I wouldn't be married now. I would be alone."
Veitch also admitted during the course of the interview - which can be read in its entirety into today's Herald on Sunday that he would consider being part of an anti domestic violence campaign.
"I would do it in a flash, and I know people will say 'Well of course he would', but I would also like people to know that one thing I do know is how this can happen and how suddenly things can spiral and you can do things you've never thought possible.
"One thing I hope out of all of this, I hope that New Zealand gets the message."
- NZ HERALD STAFF
