Former deputy mayor of Auburn council Salim Mehajer has been charged with assaulting a Seven News reporter, after earlier allegedly assaulting a taxi driver at the Star Casino in the early hours of Sunday morning.
Mr Mehajer allegedly assaulted the taxi driver and stole his eftpos machine and mobile phone as he was exiting the taxi at the Star Casino about 4.30am on Sunday. Police said the taxi driver, a 38-year-old man, received an injury to the nose during the incident.
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Police ask former deputy mayor of Auburn council Salim Mehajer to leave another taxi, after allegedly assaulting a taxi driver at the Star Casino. Courtesy Seven Network
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Salim Mehajer ordered out of taxi
Police ask former deputy mayor of Auburn council Salim Mehajer to leave another taxi, after allegedly assaulting a taxi driver at the Star Casino. Courtesy Seven Network
More than seven hours after he was arrested, Mr Mehajer, 30, walked out of Sydney City Police Station shortly after midday, charged with assault occasioning actual bodily harm and larceny.
But Mr Mehajer's exit from the police station on Sunday afternoon didn't quite go to plan. With his phone clasped to his ear, Mr Mehajer attempted to make a swift departure from the station, jumping into a waiting taxi, which had been called to collect him.
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However, the taxi driver aborted the fare, amid an assembling media scrum. Mr Mehajer was then ordered out of the taxi by a police officer.
A short time later, he was collected from the station by a friend driving a white Porsche.
As Mr Mehajer got in the Porsche's driver's seat, a Seven reporter stuck a microphone in the car, preventing him from closing the door.
Police allege Mr Mehajer used the driver's door of the car to assault the woman, causing injury to her hand, before driving away. He was charged with assault occasioning actual bodily harm on Sunday night.
Earlier in the day, Mr Mehajer was arrested at 5.10am at the intersection of William and Bourke streets in Darlinghurst, and taken to the police station on Day Street, in Sydney's CBD.
A spokeswoman for NSW Police said police would forensically examine the taxi driver's phone and eftpos machine "to determine any links" to the original incident.
Mr Mehajer was granted conditional bail to appear before Downing Centre Local Court on April 26.
The alleged incident is Mr Mehajer's latest brush with the law, after he was catapulted into the public sphere with his lavish wedding to his since-estranged wife Aysha in August 2015.
The ceremony, which featured a fleet of helicopters, cavalcade of luxury sports cars, a jet flyover and bikies lining the street, shut down Frances Street in Lidcombe, and resulted in Mr Mehajer being fined $220 by his own council for failing to get the proper authorisation to close the street.
Since then, Mr Mehajer has repeatedly fronted NSW courts. On one particularly busy day in November 2015, he had three separate matters before different courts simultaneously.
However, his most serious legal woes relate to charges of electoral fraud, which carry a 10-year jail sentence, and are still unfolding in Downing Centre Local Court.
During his last court appearance in November, AFP prosecutors foreshadowed further charges may be laid in connection with his alleged rigging of the 2012 Auburn City Council ballot. He has already been charged with over 100 offences on the matter, including using forged documents, making false statements and giving false or misleading information.
His sister Fatima has also been charged with a string of similar offences.
In January 2016, Mr Mehajer was suspended from Auburn council for four months for failing to disclose his financial interest in a property when voting on changes adding $1 million to its value. Two weeks later, the entire Auburn council elected body was sacked by then-local government minister Paul Toole, who ordered a public inquiry into the council.
In March, the inquiry's finding were referred to the Independent Commission Against Corruption for further investigation.
Mr Mehajer has also had a string of driving-related infractions, including a fine for driving an unregistered Ferrari. He settled a separate incident involving his Ferrari for $1.7 million after his white 612 Scaglietti mounted the footpath and struck Nhu Hua, then 68, and her daughter-in-law Tuyet La, 40, in Burwood.
He was back in court in January where he was sued for $25,500 by a cleaner who claimed Mr Mehajer had not paid him for cleaning an apartment block on John Street, Lidcombe.