- Salim Mehajer filed an appeal against the sentence
- He was convicted of domestic violence and fraud.
Claims by a former deputy mayor convicted of domestic violence and fraud that new evidence could prove his innocence have been rejected as “speculative” ahead of an appeal.
On separate occasions, Salim Mehajer repeatedly hit a woman, smashed her phone by grabbing her hand, and put his hand over her mouth to make her pass out.
He also committed fraud by attempting to use false documents to recover $6,530 confiscated by police from his home.
The 38-year-old is serving a sentence of seven years and nine months for both types of offenses and is in custody at John Morony Prison in western Sydney.
The former property developer and deputy mayor of Sydney’s Auburn Council appealed his convictions for both types of offenses and in October applied for bail at the New South Wales Court of Criminal Appeal.
Three judges of this court unanimously rejected Mehajer’s bid on Friday, saying that while the former deputy mayor claimed his innocence, these claims lacked details.
Judge Dina Yehia wrote that the 38-year-old man appeared to say he had evidence to “establish almost definitively” that he had an alibi showing that at least some of the domestic violence crimes did not occur.
“However, a mere statement to that effect, without specifying the nature of the evidence, is highly speculative,” she wrote, supported by the other two judges on the panel.
Salim Mehajer, on different occasions, repeatedly hit a woman, smashed her phone by grabbing her hand, and covered her mouth with his hand to make her faint.
Mehajer claimed he needed to be released on bail because he was kept in “segregation” while in prison and could not adequately prepare for the appeal.
However, the court found that he had sufficient resources and facilities at his disposal in prison, including access to a private computer room.
“A telling indication of (Mehajer’s) ability to prepare his legal proceedings is demonstrated in the current (bail) application,” Judge Yehia wrote.
‘(He) submitted full written submissions which were supplemented by oral submissions during the hearing.’
The real estate developer also argued that by the time his appeal was heard, he would have already served a significant portion of his sentence behind bars.
Although his non-parole period expired on July 18, 2025, this in itself did not mean that the former deputy mayor should be granted bail, the appeals court stated.
There was also a “flagrant absence of evidence” about Mehajer’s claims that he needed to be released to prevent a mortgagee in possession from selling his family home, the judges ruled.
In addition to domestic violence and fraud offences, Mehajer is also serving a 24-month sentence for staging a car accident and providing false details to manipulate traffic tickets.
His 18-month non-parole period on those charges will expire Dec. 14.
However, he will not be released at that time as his appeal of his other more serious sentences has not been heard.