Major update on disgraced former deputy mayor Salim Mehajer's bid for freedom
Disgraced former politician and property developer Salim Mehajer could be released from prison within months.
He's currently serving a seven-year and nine-month sentence for a string of crimes, including violence against his former partner and forging his lawyer's signature.
The court heard the former deputy mayor of Auburn Council in western Sydney, had suffocated a woman and threatened to put a 'bullet' in her mother's head.
Mehajer will be eligible to front a public parole hearing on June 12 ahead of a possible early release date on July 18.
The matter was considered at a meeting of the State Parole Authority earlier this month, news.com.au reported.
A community corrections pre-release report recommended he be released on conditional parole with supervision.
Standing in the way of Mehajer's freedom is the Commissioner of Corrective Services, who noted Mehajer is an 'offender of interest' and indicated plans to make submissions about his possible release on parole.
Mehajer was initially jailed in November 2020 after being found guilty of two counts of perverting the course of justice and one count of making a false statement under oath.
He was found to have lied in affidavits and under cross-examination, which were used to secure his relaxed bail conditions.
The embattled politician returned to court in 2023 and was found guilty in two separate trial, one regarding fraud and the other domestic violence matters.
Mehajer was sentenced to a maximum of seven years and nine months for both cases.
In his domestic violence case, a jury convicted him of multiple counts of assault, one count of intimidation and one count of suffocation relating to his ex-partner.
The court heard Mehajer had punched the woman in her head during an argument in his car, squeezed her hand and crushed the phone she held, and threatened to kill her mother.
Just one month later, the jury in his fraud case found him guilty of two counts each of making a false document and using a false document.
He had created the false documents by forging the signatures of his solicitor, Zali Burrows, and sister.
Mehajer returned to court again in 2024 for his role in a staged car crash.
He pleaded guilty to 22 charges, including perverting the course of justice, making a false representation resulting in a police investigation, making a false call for an ambulance and negligent driving.
Mehajer had staged the car accident in west Sydney during October 2017 in order to delay his court appearance.
At the time he was due to front court for assaulting a taxi driver.
The former deputy mayor was sentenced to a maximum of two years for the offences, with a non-parole period of 16 months.
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