Roxy Jacenko: PR queen denies street attack on her father and his fiancee

PR queen Roxy Jacenko has denied striking out at her estranged father and his fashion designer fiancee­. Police are probing the incident in which Nick Jacenko and Lisa Ho claim Ms Jacenko screamed “you should be ashamed of yourself” and rained blows on them.

• ROXY WORKS TO EASE KIDS’ FATHERS’ DAY PAIN
• ROXY OPENS UP ABOUT HER ‘WORST DAY YET’

Roxy Jacenko dodged questions on her alleged family dispute this morning outside her luxury unit in Bondi.

The PR Queen appeared unphased by camera flashes as she casually strolled into the back of a tinted sports Bentley.

She then popped on a pair of dark sunglasses and raced off to her Sweaty Betty offices in Double Bay.

Police yesterday confirmed they were investigating an alleged attack by Roxy Jacenko on her estranged father.

The entrepreneur has denied striking out at her estranged father and his fashion designer fiancee­ during a confrontation on an up-market Sydney street.

Police yesterday confirmed they were investigating the incident in which Nick Jacenko and his partner Lisa Ho claim Ms Jacenko screamed “you should be ashamed of yourself” and began raining blows on them.

No charges have been laid and police have asked for any witnesses to come forward.

Through her lawyer, the Sweaty Betty PR owner Ms Jacenko yesterday denied the allegations, saying they were inaccurate and defamatory of her. The incident allegedly took place three days into the Supreme Court trial of Ms ­Jacenko’s husband Oliver Curtis, who was later found guilty of insider trading, after the couple had enjoyed a family dinner at Big Mama’s Italian Trattoria on Moncur St, Woollahra.

Roxy Jacenko out and about in Sydney yesterday. Picture: Adam Taylor

Ms Jacenko was walking out of the restaurant at 6pm on Saturday, May 14, with family members including her mother Doreen Davis when Mr Jacenko and Ms Ho say the confrontation occurred.

Mr Jacenko, who has been estranged from his eldest daughter since his divorce from Ms Davis, told The Daily Telegraph  he and Ms Ho were on their way out to dinner at nearby Pizza Moncur­ and he had glanced up at Big Mama’s as they passed and saw his daughter leaving the restaurant.

He said she confronted him in the lane between Big Mama’s and Pizza Moncur.

Investment banker Curtis, 31, allegedly told Ms Ho and Mr Jacenko to “just keep walking”.

“I think he (Curtis) wanted us to walk on but we couldn’t,” Ms Ho said told The Daily Telegraph yesterday.

Nick Jacenko with his fashion designer fiancee Lisa Ho. Supplied

“I asked Ollie to tell Roxy to let go of my scarf so we could move on. I told him ‘I can’t move — she has hold of my scarf’.”

Mr Jacenko, a clothing manufacturer, and Ms Ho ­allege that, without provocation, public relations expert Ms Jacenko grabbed her ­father   by   the   neck   of  his ­T-shirt and struck him around the head while hurling abuse at him.

“She was screaming ‘You should be ashamed of yourself’ over and over,” Mr Jacenko, 66, said, stating he didn’t know to what his daughter was referring.

Ms Ho alleges Ms Jacenko then struck her a number of times with a closed fist to the head and neck.

Big Mama’s Italian Trattoria on Moncur St, Woollahra / Picture: Richard Dobson

After Ms Ho became the focus of Ms Jacenko’s fury, Mr Jacenko’s former wife Ms Davis, 68, allegedly knocked his glasses from his face as she hit him about the head.

Ms Ho claims Ms Davis, to whom Mr Jacenko was married for 38 years before their divorce in 2014, then turned her attention to the 56-year-old designer, whom she allegedly struck from behind.

Ms Davis has also denied any wrongdoing.

Police have confirmed they were called to an incident at Moncur St, Woollahra, on May 14 and investigations into the matter were ongoing.

Ms Ho said three police cars attended the scene.

A police spokesman said two officers from Rose Bay Area Command took Ms Ho and Mr Jacenko’s statements at Paddington Police Station about 7pm that same night.

“Police from Rose Bay LAC were called to Moncur St, near Queen St, Woollahra about 7pm on Saturday May 14, 2016, in relation to reports of an altercation,” the spokesman said.

Nick Jacenko's ex wife Doreen Jacenko with Roxy.

“A number of statements were taken. Witnesses to the incident are urged to contact police.”

Mr Jacenko and Ms Ho said they are seeking a witness so they can proceed with the matter.

“Security footage would be most beneficial if there is some,” Ms Ho said, requesting any witnesses to make contact with police at Rose Bay.

Ms Jacenko’s parents separated in 2011 and divorced in 2014.

Mr Jacenko began his relationship with mother-of-three Ms Ho in 2013. The pair usually keep a low profile after both going through high-profile marriage breakdowns.

Ms Ho separated from her textiles businessman husband Philip Smouha in 2011 before being introduced to Mr ­Jacenko in 2013.

Ms Jacenko, who revealed she was battling breast cancer just weeks after her husband was jailed for insider trading, recently underwent surgery and indicated in a TV interview she will have post-operative radiation treatment.

Her husband was found guilty in June of conspiring with his former best friend John Hartman to make $1.43 million in an insider trading scam in 2007 and 2008, before he and Ms Jacenko were married. He will appeal against his two-year jail sentence next month.

JACENKO LOYALTIES TESTED TO THE LIMIT

THERE was a time when PR queen Roxy Jacenko’s biggest ally in her family was her father Nick.

It was Nick Jacenko who maintained his support for his eldest daughter during her rift with younger sister Ruby.

The sisters hadn’t spoken for six months when Roxy kicked Ruby out of a party she had organised in a Kings Cross nightclub in 2008.

The sisters argued and, according to a police report written at the time, Ruby punched her elder sibling twice in the face.

The ugly incident landed in court, with police seeking an apprehended violence order on Roxy’s behalf, but she later dropped the application.

The public incident split the family down the middle, with then 18-year-old student Ruby, who lived at home with her parents, turning to her mother while Roxy enjoyed the support of her father.

Roxy Jacenko and her father Nick in 2010 / Picture: Oscar Bravo

But by the time Nick and his wife Doreen divorced in 2014, Roxy had switched loyalties back to her mother, who now lives in an apartment above the home Roxy shares with her two children.

After Nick and Doreen separated, he began a relationship in 2013 with fashion designer Lisa Ho.

It seems Roxy Jacenko
was not pleased. That same year she released her novel The Spotlight, in which a father leaves his family for a new girlfriend.

Lisa Ho and Nick Jacenko in Double Bay.

“All I can say is each character is certainly inspired by my day-to-day life, but it is a work of fiction,” Roxy said when asked if the plot reflected her family reality

At the time Nick Jacenko said of the novel: “I haven’t seen a copy and I haven’t talked to Roxy for a year.

“I am not concerned, I would have expected vindictiveness to be in there ... It is pretty desperate, actually it is extremely desperate and I am sad to even hear it.”