Annette Sharp: Punishing year for big names in court spotlight
The year was filled with a cavalcade of stars, celebrities and public figures going before the courts for some questionable matters, but punishing for those involved, Annette Sharp writes.
Police & Courts
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With the pandemic restricting the population’s movements through a series of lockdowns, police were called – in greater numbers it seemed – to domestic disputes involving a roster of high-profile and wealthy identities in 2021.
The year finished as it started – with a cavalcade of stars, celebrities and public figures going before congested courts on matters relating to AVOs, some questionable but all punishing for those involved.
As business flourished for a new generation of celebrity lawyers, stars dealt publicly with a raft of domestic issues – some, such as self-abuse, alcohol disorders and precarious mental health – unexpected.
January kicked off with former White Ribbon ambassador and Channel 7 game show host
Andrew O’Keefe being arrested on January 31 on common assault charges involving his partner, Dr Orly Lavee.
O’Keefe was issued with an AVO. Two days later Channel 7 was forced to confirmed it had cut ties with The Chase star. O’Keefe was promptly sectioned to a mental health facility and his charges were dismissed.
A day earlier Bondi meditation guru Andrew “Marshy” Marsh, the partner of TV presenter Deborah Hutton, walked free from jail after being remanded into custody in December on two counts of common assault and one of cocaine possession.
This followed his alleged assault of two people known to him at their Sydney home. Marsh’s lawyer indicated his client would fight some of the charges on mental health grounds. He pleaded guilty to the cocaine charges.
February found NRL star Sam Burgess back in court on charges of intimidating his former father-in-law, Mitchell Hooke, during a heated argument in the NSW Southern Highlands in 2019.
A court initially found Burgess, who pleaded not guilty to the charges, guilty before the conviction and two-year community service order was overturned on appeal in March. An AVO preventing Burgess from approaching Hooke was also revoked.
That same month out-of-contract ARL player Jamil Hopoate, the son of star John, pleaded guilty to striking his partner with an “open right palm” and knocking her to the ground outside a Port Macquarie club. He was later sentenced to a 12-month intensive corrections order.
Also in February, Suzanne Hadley, former wife of radio anchor Ray Hadley, was granted a domestic AVO – her second – against ex-boyfriend and former NSW State of Origin assistant coach Matt Parish, who agreed to the order without admission.
Meanwhile Offspring star Dan Wyllie was cleared of assaulting his estranged wife, Shannon Murphy, after actor Toni Collette testified the actor was of good character.
Former Auburn ex-deputy major Salim Mehajer pleaded not guilty to five counts of breaching an AVO brought by his ex-girlfriend Melissa “Missy” Tysoe.
March saw a court find one-time rugby league star Jarryd Hayne guilty of assaulting a woman in her house resulting in a minimum three years and eight month jail term.
That same month former Broncos recruit Myles Taueli was jailed for a second time on domestic assault charges involving his sister following a family dispute at Budgewoi in September 2020.
In April R&B star Dennis Dowlut was charged with assaulting the mother of his two children, Bushells tea heiress Alisha Oxley, and issued with an AVO following a bizarre car trip that prompted a statewide search after Dowlut took off in the family car with the couple’s two children. The matter was due to return to court this month. It has now been adjourned until February.
Also that month former West Coast AFL champion Daniel Kerr – elder brother of Matilda’s star Sam Kerr – pleaded guilty from prison to breaching a DVO taken out by his former partner in 2020.
May brought infatuated Delta Goodrem fan James Lafferty before a Sydney court after allegedly twice breaching an AVO granted in February when he was found to have intimidated and stalked the singer after visiting her apartment. Lafferty told the court he was acting as a “lover, not a stalker”.
He returned to court in July and was convicted of contravening the AVO and sentenced to a 15-month community correction order.
June unearthed semi-famous Insta-cavoodle Oscar when his parents became engaged in an ownership dispute over the pooch. Sydney barrister Gina Edwards, who minded Oscar for extended periods while his registered owner, Mark Gillespie, was away working, applied for an AVO against Gillespie.
The custody battle ended up in the NSW Supreme Court but not before an onscreen scuffle was captured by TV’s A Current Affair.
Also in June retired Parramatta star Brett Kenny consented – without any admissions – to an AVO taken out on behalf of his estranged wife, Suzanne, while a 21-year-old music student, Kristo Langker, a producer for YouTube channel Friendlyjordies, pleaded not guilty to stalking or intimidating then NSW Deputy Premier John Barilaro after Langker was arrested by NSW Police Fixated Persons unit. Amid claims the matter is an abuse of police power, Langker faces a hearing in May 2022.
In July police applied for an AVO against Lisa Roberts, fan of radio star Michael “Wippa” Wipfli, after finding she had bombarded the radio star with messages and had an “unhealthy obsession” with the radio jock to whom she’d sent dolls.
It was also the month one-time Sydney socialite Shari-Lea Hitchcock obtained an AVO against boyfriend of nine years Dallen Alexander Nichols following an incident at their south coast home.
In August a former client of television fitness trainer Steve “Commando” Willis claimed she had been unfairly slapped with an AVO for stalking the man she called “Shifu” in October 2020.
After being ordered to stay away from the Biggest Loser star for two years, Jun “Margaret” Yue appealed the AVO, winning in September.
Andrew O’Keefe returned to court in September charged with assault and breaking an AVO. It came only two months after domestic violence charges against the game show host on behalf of his former partner were dropped on mental health grounds.
October saw the arrest of retired cricket champion-turned-commentator Michael Slater on alleged stalking and harassment charges concerning former partner Melanie Livesey.
In November NSW Police obtained a two-year AVO on behalf of the wife of former disgraced Labor MP Craig Thomson.
Police alleged on behalf of Zoe Arnold, the wife of former national secretary of the Health Services Union and mother of his three children, Thomson had sent her “email threats”. He said the order was “harsh and unnecessary”.
Also in November police sought and obtained an AVO against the foster parents of missing toddler William Tyrrell on behalf of an unnamed child. The couple entered a not guilty plea in December with reports stating the matter would be dealt away from the media spotlight and under the Mental Health Act.
December saw Michael Slater return to court after he allegedly breached an AVO granted in October by sending “harassing and highly offensive” text messages to his former partner.
That matter returned to court on Thursday with Slater’s lawyer assuring an overloaded court the former batsman would spend Christmas in a mental health facility before returning in 2022.
Also this month Sydney pubs’ investor Chris Nasser was hit with an AVO, which he has vowed to fight, after splitting with his pretty wife, Hollie, who dumped him two months ago for funds manager and socialite Charlie Aitken, estranged husband of Ellie.
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