A bitter split between a Sydney mayor and her former property manager has turned ugly, with both parties serving provisional domestic violence warrants against each other.
Hawkesbury Mayor Sarah McMahon has told police that her ex-partner Matthew Bennett pinned her to a bed and threw her to the floor. She also accused him of smashing furniture.
Although police have served Bennett with a restraining order, he has not been criminally charged. The Sydney Morning Herald reported.
There are also separate claims that Cr McMahon went to Bennett’s office at night to check his computer after she suspected him of cheating.
MP McMahon, who stood as a Liberal candidate for the federal seat of Lindsay in Sydney’s west at the last election, was also given her own restraining order. She has also not been criminally charged.
ADVO documents released by Windsor Local Court detail the couple’s relationship, which lasted six years until late 2023, when their partnership began to “ebb and flow”.
Bennett is alleged to have made a hole in a wall when the couple lived together at their home in Richmond, northwest of Sydney, from March 2019 until Easter 2022.
The couple moved to another Richmond address in 2022, where Cr McMahon alleged Bennett punched a hole in a wall, kicked a wooden panel off a desk and broke a clothes divider.
Hawkesbury Mayor Sarah McMahon (pictured) said her ex-partner Matthew Bennett (right), a property manager, smashed furniture and pinned her to a bed.
Ms McMahon (pictured) was served with her own interim injunction, after she allegedly searched her ex-partner’s laptop to find evidence he was cheating on her.
He also claimed that more than $1,000 worth of damage was caused.
There was also an allegation against Bennett that sometime in 2023 he had hit his then-partner with a Nike bag, knocking her down and injuring her thigh.
Then he shouted at her: “Get up and stop pretending.”
Bennett allegedly threw a glass against the kitchen wall during an argument last month.
In a separate incident, he allegedly pinned Cr McMahon to a bed while shouting at her.
Cr McMahon reported the alleged incidents to police earlier this month.
Bennett has been ordered under the interim ADVO not to assault, threaten, stalk, harass or intimidate the mayor or any other person with whom she may have a domestic relationship, or damage their property.
Congresswoman McMahon was served with her own temporary injunction naming Bennett as a person in need of protection.
ADVO documents indicate the mayor had allegedly gone to Bennett’s mother’s home as well as his sister’s on June 14, looking for him because he suspected he was having an affair.
Cr McMahon allegedly sent a photo of her sister’s house on WhatsApp at 8.02am and then went to her friend’s house in Castlereagh.
The mayor spent more than an hour searching for Bennett and then allegedly went to his office in Richmond and entered through an unlocked door.
She allegedly went through his laptop to try to find evidence that he had been cheating on her.
The mayor then allegedly sent a photo of her laptop to Bennett, prompting him to check his CCTV security cameras to see if she was inside the premises.
Police were called and Cr McMahon was arrested at the scene.
The Hawkesbury mayor (pictured) and Mr Bennett were together for six years before beginning an on-off relationship.
Bennett told police he feared for his safety but did not give them a statement because he did not want to damage the mayor’s career.
But he added that he did not want the mayor to have any contact with him or be allowed to visit him.
Cr McMahon’s acting ADVO had one additional restriction on Bennett: she was not to approach or communicate with him unless through a solicitor.
Both ADVO matters were heard in Windsor Local Court, where the mayor’s lawyer said he would fight a final ADVO to be issued when the matter returns to court on August 1.
The former couple had previously shot to fame when Cr McMahon was investigated for telling the NSW Electoral Commission she had no links to a property developer, despite Bennett co-owning a property business.
But the NSW Office of Local Government ruled that Bennett did not fit the definition of a property developer and that the mayor had not breached the councillor’s code of conduct.
Councilwoman McMahon was not at Tuesday night’s council meeting, where her deputy blocked a vote of no confidence in the mayor.
Daily Mail Australia has contacted Cr McMahon and Bennett for comment.
(tags to translate)dailymail
