Former mayor’s ‘extortion victim’ denies wed vows

A Sydney cabbie allegedly the target of an extortion bid by a former Ipswich mayor denied promising to wed a woman while already married.

Former Ipswich mayor Paul Pisasale arrives at the District Court in Brisbane yesterday. Mr Pisasale has pleaded not guilty to two counts of extortion. Picture: AAP

A Sydney taxi driver allegedly the subject of an extortion attempt by former Ipswich mayor Paul Pisasaledenied promising to wed a woman while already married — or pretending to be dying to end the relationship.

Cab driver Xin Li also says he did not owe any money to girlfriend Yutian “Angela” Li when they broke up, and he had previously helped pay her tuition.

Mr Pisasale is on trial in Brisbane’s District Court after allegedly demanding thousands of dollars from Mr Li while posing as a private investigator.

The trial was played phone calls, intercepted by Crime and Corruption Commission investigators, from 2017 in which the then mayor allegedly told Mr Li he would be taken to the Federal Court if he did not pay money to former girlfriend Ms Li.

Mr Pisasale allegedly accused Mr Li of deceiving Ms Li into thinking they would marry, and said he would be sued for $200,000. The court was told Mr Pisasale, 67, was introduced to Ms Li in January 2017 by barrister Sam Di Carlo, who was allegedly recorded telling the mayor: “I told her to give you the girlfriend experience.”

Mr Li yesterday said he first met Ms Li when he picked her up as a passenger in his taxi at Sydney airport in around February 2016. They started communicating every day. In June or July that year, they met in Singapore and went on holiday to Bali.

They met again in Singapore in October that year and went to the Maldives for a week. In December, Ms Li arrived in Sydney and stayed at a home Mr Li was renting. He said he wasn’t ­expecting her and broke off the relationship at that time.

He confirmed he had married another woman in 2016. Under cross-examination, he could not recall the date but said it was in March. He had a child, now 10, from a previous marriage.

He said he had told Ms Li he was married. He denied arranging to marry Ms Li or putting a deposit down for a wedding.

On their first trip to Bali, she told him she was married, he said. “She said she separated with her husband,” he told the court.

In August 2016, he had given her 25,000 Chinese yuan, about $5000, for tuition fees and did not owe her money when they broke up.

He was no longer able to drive taxis because of a lower back injury and was separated from his wife.

Mr Pisasale and Ms Li both pleaded not guilty to two counts of extortion. Ipswich lawyer Cameron McKenzie pleaded not guilty to a single extortion charge after Mr Pisasale allegedly asked him to write to Mr Li demanding money.

It was suggested during defence questioning that Ms Li had told Mr Li she was desperate to have children. He could not remember. It was also suggested he told Ms Li he had a terminal illness. Mr Li denied this.

He said by December 2016, she knew he was married. There were photos of his wife and child in his rented house. He told Ms Li it was his wife.

The court had heard Ms Li told Mr Pisasale she wanted to punish Mr Li after learning he was married.

Mr Pisasale allegedly told Mr Li he owed Ms Li $10,000 in private investigation fees. “I’m not going to be f..ked around like you f..ked her around,” he said in the phone calls.

“Her life has been destroyed.”