Salim Mehajer's nervous wait over big decision

News.com.au

a day ago

Former politician Salim Mehajer faces a nervous wait to be told whether he will be released from prison after spending more than 5½ years behind bars.
Mehajer on Thursday appeared before a State Parole Authority hearing during which the Commissioner of Corrective Services opposed his release, citing a risk of reoffending and Mehajer's denial of some of his crimes.
A Community Corrections prerelease report has recommended that Mehajer be released on conditional parole with supervision when he becomes eligible for release on July 18 after serving a 3½ year non-parole period.
He was represented in court on Thursday by barrister Dev Bhutani and solicitor Zawat Zreika as he watched on via videolink from John Morony Correctional Centre in western Sydney sporting slicked back hair, a prison-issue green jumper and white T-shirt.
Mehajer is serving a seven-year and nine-month prison term for domestic violence offences against a former partner as well fraud for forging his lawyer's signature.
The former property developer has been in prison since November 2020 when he was jailed for lying to a court and has served back-to-back sentences for multiple offences.
Barrister Ghassan Kassisieh, appearing for the commissioner, argued that Mehajer should not be released so soon after being sentenced in May last year.
Mr Kassisieh argued there was a risk of reoffending, Mehajer had poor insight and he would be released into an environment where his attitudes to his offending would not be challenged.
The court was told that Mehajer continued to deny the domestic violence offences.
He is due to appear before a Court of Criminal Appeal hearing in July in an attempt to have his domestic violence convictions quashed on appeal.
It has been proposed that Mehajer be released on parole into private accommodation funded by his family, who remain supportive of him.
Mr Bhutani argued that Mehajer had undergone an attitude change in late 2022 or early 2023 and said he was willing to take part in programs for his reintegration into society to be successful.
State Parole Authority chair Geoff Bellew said the parole board would reserve its decision until after it received a transcript of Thursday's hearing and told the court that Mehajer would be informed by his lawyers.
'Do you understand,' Mr Bellew asked.
'I understand, Your Honour,' Mr Mehajer said.
Mehajer was jailed in November 2020 after he was found guilty of two counts of perverting the course of justice and one count of making a false statement under oath.
The case centred on the former Auburn deputy mayor's lies in affidavits and under cross-examination that he used to secure relaxed bail conditions.
In 2023, Mehajer was again found guilty in separate trials for unrelated fraud and domestic violence matters.
Mehajer was sentenced to a maximum of seven years and nine months in jail for both sets of matters.
He was found guilty by a jury of multiple counts of assault, one count of intimidation and one count of suffocation relating to his abuse of an ex-partner.
He was found guilty of assaulting the woman by punching her in the head during an argument in his car, squeezing her hand and crushing her phone that she was holding, suffocating her by putting his hand over her nose and mouth until she passed out as well as threatening to kill the woman's mother.
The following month, he was found guilty by a jury of two counts each of making a false document and using a false document.
He was found to have created false statutory declarations and affidavits by forging the signatures of his solicitor, Zali Burrows, and sister.
Last year, Mehajer pleaded guilty to his role in a bizarre staged car crash in an attempt to duck a court appearance.
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.
He admitted to staging the car accident in Sydney's west in October 2017, with the court hearing that Mehajer orchestrated the incident in a bid to delay his court appearance for an unrelated criminal matter for assaulting a taxi driver.
He was sentenced to a maximum of two years for the offences, with a non-parole period of 16 months.
Mehajer's sentence will expire in October 2029.