Salim Mehajer back in jail for breaching bail with two phones
FORMER Auburn deputy mayor Salim Mehajer is back behind bars after his bail was revoked today. Police allege he breached his bail conditions by being found with two phones.
NSW
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FORMER Auburn deputy mayor Salim Mehajer is back behind bars after breaching his bail conditions.
Less than 24 hours earlier Mehajer’s most pressing concern appeared to be his good looks after he posted a selfie to Instagram captioned “Good bye hair”.
On Friday afternoon though the bankrupt property developer faced Bankstown Local Court where police were granted a detention application after they arrested Mehajer at Bankstown Police Station earlier that day.
The 31-year-old was found to be in possession of two phones when he was arrested and in breach of his bail conditions over allegations he staged a car crash in October last year.
The court was also shown CCTV footage from a Roads and Maritime Service branch which appears to show Mehajer using two handsets.
READ MORE: Videos reveal darker side to ‘show pony’ Salim Mehajer’s life
Police also allege Mehajer violated a three-year good behaviour bond, which he is serving for assaulting a taxi driver outside The Star Casino last year, after he posted a live video on Instagram pointing a finger at a photo of his ex-wife Aysha Learmonth and saying “RIP bitch”.
In court Mehajer’s lawyer claimed Mehajer was using the second phone simply as a notebook and it did not contain a SIM card.
His lawyer said his client was “ignorant” and “idiotic” nothing more.
“This is not a flagrant act of defiance,” his lawyer told the court.
“He is no risk of reoffending.”
With regard to the Instagram post he said Mehajer was communicating with his 191,000 followers and not Ms Learmonth.
Mehajer was on bail over allegations he staged a car crash in October last year to avoid a court appearance on charges he assaulted taxi driver Nazir Syed earlier that year.
In March he was sentenced to a three-year good behaviour bond and ordered to undergo anger management after he pleading guilty to the assault which left Mr Syed with a bloody face after Mehajer flew into a rage and threw an EFTPOS machine at his head.
On April 11 the troubled former councillor was dealt another legal blow when he was convicted on 77 counts electoral fraud and found to have acted in a joint-criminal enterprise with his sister Fatima Mehajer to influence the 2012 Auburn Council election.
Salim Mehajer and sister are due to be sentenced on those charges later this year and each face a maximum 10 years in jail.
Only week before he was found guilty on these charges Mehajer had just been released from Silverwater jail following a successful bail application in the NSW Supreme Court.
Mehajer was due to appear before Downing Centre Local Court on May 15 to apply for a bail variation but that hearing date has now been vacated.
It is unclear when Mehajer will be back before the courts but outside court on Friday his lawyer told the waiting media they would be appearing the detention application at the earliest date.