Fear and shame haunt Jodhi Meares after rolling her Range Rover in a drink driving accident
ASHAMED fashion designer and model Jodhi Meares has not left her apartment since she was charged for high-range drink driving after flipping her car in one of Sydney’s most exclusive suburbs last weekend.
ASHAMED fashion designer and model Jodhi Meares has not left her apartment since she was charged for high-range drink driving after flipping her car in one of Sydney’s most exclusive suburbs last weekend.
Friends of the former wife of casino magnate James Packer say Meares is “shocked and ashamed” after smashing her luxury Range Rover into three parked cars in Bellevue Hill, in Sydney’s eastern suburbs, on Saturday night.
Meares is understood to have recruited controversial Sydney lawyer Chris Murphy to help her prepare for her appearance in Waverley Local Court on August 5, at which she will learn if she is to be jailed for up to 18 months.
Her fiance of one year, musician Jon Stevens of Noiseworks fame, said the couple would not be making any statement about the accident that threatens Meares’ hard-won business reputation as a luxury active wear designer.
Meares, who found fame at age 16 as the Moove milk girl and love with Packer eight years later, yesterday used Instagram to make her first public comment since the accident: “Slash and Johnny wrote this song together for Johnny’s new band THE DEAD DAISIES — it seriously rocks — lock and load xx @thedeaddaisies #jonstevens #slash #rockandroll #awesome #lockandload,” she wrote.
Friends said Meares was severely shaken by the accident and the possibility of jail — not least because of the conflicted feelings of shame and guilt she feels towards her estranged and alcoholic father John, who walked out on the family when she was two.
Despite reconciling with him before his death, Meares did not invite her father to her 1999 wedding to Packer, which was attended by 750 guests.
Meares had spent the afternoon and evening of last Saturday drinking organic white wine at trendy The Hill Eatery in North Bondi with former INXS frontman Stevens.
Another diner said Meares was already “fairly pickled” when he arrived there with his wife at 6.30pm.
When he complained about their smoking: “Jodhi jumped up and said ‘Oh, I’m really, really sorry.’ She was lovely and really apologetic. But Jon Stevens grabbed her and said ‘don’t worry about them’.’’
Meares and Stevens, who plan to marry in September, went to their separate homes about 9.30pm and Meares made the fateful decision to drive home.
Residents on O’Sullivan Rd heard “an almighty bang” and rushed out to find 43-year-old Meares’ car sliding down the road on its side and three parked cars badly smashed.
The force of the crash had knocked one of the wheels from her car, which had spun round and was facing back the way it came.
Resident David Kelly said: “She was still in the car, sitting while it was on its side and a guy ran over and got her out before police came.”
She allegedly gave a positive breath test at the scene and then returned a reading of 0.181 — almost four times the legal limit — at Waverley police station.
Police have made three visits to her harbourside apartment this week.
Police claimed she had been driving with a suspended licence, which was understood to be because of unpaid parking fines, which she tried to pay after the crash.
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