Salim Mehajer yelled ‘I go crazy in seconds’ before assaulting taxi driver
“I GO crazy in seconds. I am getting angry you f***ing dog”. That is what disgraced former Auburn Council deputy mayor Salim Mehajer yelled at a defenceless taxi driver moments before he smashed an EFTPOS machine into the cabbie’s face.
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“I GO crazy in seconds. I am getting angry you f***ing dog”.
That is what disgraced former Auburn Council deputy mayor Salim Mehajer yelled at a defenceless taxi driver moments before he smashed an EFTPOS machine into the cabbie’s face leaving him with a bloodied nose outside The Star on April 2 last year.
Moments earlier he abused a group of young women who were waiting for an Uber, smashing a white iPhone 7 belonging to Chiara Lisciotto who was capturing the unfolding drama on Snapchat.
As Mehajer and his friends fled from the women they jumped in a cab and threw $200 cash at taxi driver Nazir Syed and told him to just drive.
Seconds later they changed their minds telling the cabbie to take them to the main entrance of casino and demanding he give them $100 back.
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When they all got out of the cab on Pyrmont St Mehajer stopped the taxi from leaving, opening the passenger side door and stealing Mr Syed’s EFTPOS machine and his phone.
“If you give me $50 back, you will get back these items,” Mehajer told the cabbie.
Mehajer, 31, pleaded guilty on Monday in Sydney’s Downing Centre Local Court to charges of assault occasioning actual bodily harm and damage or destroy property.
The property developer’s plea came after a deal was struck with prosecutors agreeing to drop charges of larceny value greater than $2000 and common assault.
Court documents reveal Mehajer was on a big night out with workmates at the casino when things spiralled out of control and he went on an unexplained rampage.
After leaving the casino at 4.30am Mehajer and his mates spotted a group of four women waiting for an Uber at the casino’s Pirrama Rd exit.
The two groups began chatting but things quickly turned sour when Mehajer turned to a woman, named as Klara in court documents, and said “I wasn’t talking to you. I wouldn’t talk to you if you were the last female on earth.”
Klara’s younger sister, Sara, took exception and began trading barbs with Mehajer while another friend Ms Lisciotto began taking a snapchat video on her iPhone.
A friend of Mehajer’s snatched the phone out of her hand and deleted the video before Mehajer threw the mobile phone on the ground smashing it.
The controversial property developer then took off and jumped into Mr Syed’s cab where he subsequently assaulted him a few minutes later.
When the cab driver alerted security staff they immediately called the police who tracked Mehajer down in a Silver Service taxi on William St, Darlinghurst and arrested him.
Following his release from the police station on Sunday, Mehajer was confronted by the media where he assaulted Channel 7 journalist Laura Banks, slamming the door on her arm, as he attempted to escape in a white Porsche sports car.
In Downing Centre Local Court last Friday he was found guilty of assault occasioning actual bodily harm but the Magistrate Joanne Keogh chose to convict him without a penalty saying the property developer had been “hounded” by a media pack.
Mehajer had pleaded not guilty maintaining he did not intend to hurt Banks when closing the door.
Mehajer is currently in prison awaiting trial on separate charges of allegedly faking a car crash in October last year to avoid a court appearance.
Mehajer is expected to be sentenced over the assault of the taxi driver and destruction of the mobile phone on Thursday in Downing Centre Local Court.