Mehajer remains behind bars after bizarre court appearance

Despite being told there was no chance of him being freed from jail, disgraced politician Salim Mehajer made a bizarre bail application.

Distracted former politician Salim Mehajer has once again failed in his desperate bid to be freed from jail after a bizarre bail application was rejected on Monday.

The ex-property developer was last year jailed after being convicted of lying to a court, and has several other matters still before the courts including that he staged a car crash to duck a court appearance and assaulted his former partner.

He had already been knocked back for bail by the Supreme Court, but on Monday made a release application to the NSW District Court.

This is also despite the court hearing that he had been refused bail in other matters and even if he was successful, he would have remained in prison at Cooma Correctional Centre.

Appearing via videolink from jail, Mehajer explained his complex and lengthy legal history to Judge Mark Williams.

Salim Mehajer will remain in jail after failing to convince a court he should be freed on bail. Picture: Bianca De Marchi / NCA NewsWire

Having already been denied bail in a higher court by Justice Mark Ierace in February this year, he was told he would have to prove “special facts and circumstances”.

Mr Mehajer tendered a bundle of handwritten notes to the court, adding that he didn’t have the facilities in jail to type up his submissions.

He argued that he had fresh evidence relating to his conviction for perjury and lying under oath.

He was last year jailed for at least two years and three months after being found guilty of two counts of perverting the course of justice and one count of making a false statement under oath following a judge-alone trial.

The court previously found he had lied in affidavits used to secure relaxed bail conditions in other court matters.

At the time Mehajer falsely claimed he needed to be on bail to fulfil his job as a building manager, a position the court was told he never held.

Despite his conviction, he argued that he should be given bail while he launches an appeal.

Mr Mehajer argued that he had “fresh evidence” and said that a key witness, Norman Sarraf, who is the managing director of a Sydney strata company, had failed to give evidence during his trial.

“I say this critical witness would put the case to bed; we were working side-by-side when he was the interim strata manager and I was the building manager,” Mr Mehajer told the court.

“I say he’s a key witness and he should have been called to give evidence but on two occasions he called in sick.”

Mr Mehajer claimed that Mr Sarraf sponsored several NRL teams and he didn’t want to put those deals in jeopardy by being associated with his case.

However, crown prosecutor Tony McCarthy said that Mr Sarraf was battling a severe illness at the time and that one of his employees instead gave evidence at Mehajer’s trial.

Salim Mehajer is awaiting trial on several criminal matters, a court heard on Monday. Picture: Joel Carrett / NCA NewsWire

Mr Mehajer argued that he needed to be freed so that he could meet with his lawyers to launch an appeal against his perverting the course of justice conviction.

Mr Mehajer told the court that he had previously filed an application with the Criminal Court of Appeal against his conviction.

However, his lawyer at the time had withdrawn that application without his knowledge.

He claimed that he had new lawyers who were acting in a fresh appeal, and that it would be unfair for him to sit in jail while the lengthy appeals process takes place.

Ultimately, Judge Williams said the proposed bail conditions – including that Mr Mehajer would be confined to house arrest – could not mitigate the risk of him reoffending.

He also agreed with the crown’s argument that the material he was presenting was available to Judge Ierace during his previous Supreme Court bail application.

“My ultimate view is that he has failed to establish special circumstances and facts, and on that I refuse the application,” Judge Williams said.

The court heard that even if he had been released, he was still bail-refused on separate domestic violence charges.

Mehajer was in January hit with a series of domestic violence charges relating to his model ex-partner Melissa Tysoe including common assault, stalk or intimidate and intentionally choking a person with recklessness.

Missy Tysoe, the girlfriend of Salim Mehajer, has made domestic violence allegations against the disgraced former politician. Picture: Instagram

He was told that even if his bail application relating to perjury charges was successful, he would remain in jail.

He told the court that he was pleading not guilty to the domestic violence matters and planned to make a bail application in respect to those as well.

Mehajer will next year face a separate trial over allegations he staged a car crash in Sydney’s west on October 16, 2017.

He was charged with a series of offences including negligent driving, making a false representation resulting in a police investigation and making a false ambulance report and other driving offences.

He has pleaded not guilty and will fight the allegations during a trial scheduled to start in March 2022.