Former NT deputy chief minister Willem Westra van Holthe’s wife Jennifer not guilty of aggravated assault against him

Former deputy chief minister Willem Westra van Holthe’s ‘scorned’ wife Jennifer has been found not guilty of aggravated assault against him

Former CLP deputy chief minister Willem Westra van Holthe outside court yesterday

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FORMER deputy chief minister Willem Westra van Holthe’s “scorned” wife Jennifer has been found not guilty of aggravated assault against him.

Mrs Westra van Holthe was accused of striking her estranged husband in the face with a bedside lamp in a confrontation at the couple’s Waterfront apartment.

Jennie Westra van Holthe leaves Darwin Local Court yesterday

Mr Westra van Holthe was excused from giving evidence but prosecutor Bronwyn Haack pushed, unsuccessfully, for a police statement to be admitted as evidence.

After lengthy legal argument Judge John Neill said allowing the statement in, with no ability to cross examine Mr Westra van Holthe, would have been overly prejudicial to Ms Westra van Holthe.

Outside court, she denied having ever hit her husband, who she will soon formally divorce, and said the matter should never have made it to court.