Salim Mehajer bail drama ‘is going to go down in history’
Salim Mehajer tried to postpone a court hearing because the disgraced Sydney businessman needs surgery on a suspected broken hand.
NSW
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Former Auburn Deputy Mayor Salim Mehajer has tried to postpone an appeal hearing on his sentence for contravening an apprehended violence order because he needs surgery on a broken hand.
The bankrupt property developer is set to represent himself at Parramatta District Court on Wednesday to appeal his sentence of an 18-month good behaviour bond for breaching an AVO taken out by his ex-wife Aysha Learmonth.
But his barrister, Dymphna Hawkins, who is representing him in another matter, told District Court Judge James Bennett on Tuesday that he was unlikely to make the court date.
“He has surgery booked in at hospital tomorrow with his hand … His hand is very, very swollen and I understand that it may be broken,” Ms Hawkins said.
No details were given on how he injured his hand, however, a couple of hours after asking for the case to be postponed Ms Hawkins told Judge Bennett the surgery was now cancelled and he could attend court.
Mehajer was convicted and sentenced to breaching an AVO in May last year by intimidating Ms Learmonth by contacting her via Instagram in November 2017.
Only two years earlier Mehajer had married Learmonth in a wedding so outrageously extravagant it brought him nationwide notoriety.
The massive wedding included four helicopters, a fleet of luxury cars and led to his Lidcombe street being shut down.
The appeal hearing on Wednesday is one of a number of court dates Mehajer is juggling.
Judge Bennett reminded Mehajer’s legal counsel he was also due back in court on Thursday to be arraigned for trial on allegations he staged a car crash in 2017 to avoid a court case in which he was accused of assaulting a taxi driver.
Judge Bennett is also in the middle of hearing an application by Mehajer to have his bail conditions relaxed so he can go on social media and use a mobile phone.
So far that bail review has dragged on for seven days prompting Judge Bennett to say, “this is going to go down in the record books, this variation of bail, as the longest of such matters in the court’s history.”
Mehajer was only released from jail on May 21 after serving 11 months for electoral fraud in relation to the 2012 Auburn City Council election.
The electoral fraud consisted of himself and some of his family members lodging a large volume of false applications to vote within the space of an hour in July 2012. The forms contained false addresses and more than 50 forgeries.
The property developer was declared bankrupt by the Federal Court in March last year owing more than $1.69 million to numerous creditors.