Society maven's plea to court after she crashed her Range Rover into a Tesla - before SMILING, assaulting a cop and refusing to take a breath test
Waverley Local Court heard that Vanessa Jacobs Fennell is preparing a mental health application, likely under Section 14, which allows an accused to avoid punishment on mental health grounds.
Dressed in a tan-coloured suit and coat, and carrying a Hermès handbag, the 55-year-old smiled brightly as she arrived at court flanked by her lawyer.
Inside, she stared down journalists angrily in the courtroom, despite arriving as if she were walking down a catwalk.
A psychologist's report was among the submissions into the court hearing which said Fennell suffered from significant 'stresses' in her life, including the loss of two children.
According to her lawyer, on the day of the incident, Fennell had an adverse reaction to prescribed antidepressants which increased intoxication and caused dissociation.
She previously admitted negligent driving, assaulting police, refusing to submit to a breath test and failing to give her particulars to the owner of damaged property.
The mum-of-two, who was once in the running to appear on the reality TV show Real Housewives of Sydney, spent a night in a police cell following her run-in with the law.
Magistrate Kirk Dailly adjourned the matter for sentencing on August 25.
Video footage obtained by the Daily Mail showed Jacobs Fennell immediately after the incident in Bellevue Hill in Sydney's east on March 21 as bystanders tried to persuade her to get out of the car.
She smiled and appeared to laugh in the driver's seat as witnesses tried to undo her seatbelt and get her to leave the car for someone else to park.
The socialite had not yet been cuffed as police escorted her and, at one point, she appeared to try to free her arm from an officer's grip and then slap the officer.
The footage of her arrest then showed two officers frogmarching her from the scene.
Fennell was seen enjoying drinks at Double Bay restaurant Tanuki with a group of Scots College mums on the afternoon of the crash, before some of them headed across the road to martini bar Bobbie's.
Fennell has told friends the driving incident was brought about by drinking two glasses of rosé while she had the antidepressant Celapram in her system, triggering her 'out of character' behaviour.
She is understood to suffer from depression and recurring nightmares following the death of a baby daughter.
Ms Jacobs Fennell was married to private equity banker Tom Fennell, who lives very close to the crash site where she was arrested
Her recent break-up with prominent Melbourne businessman Nathan Sable has also reportedly added to her mental health issues.
The pair are believed to have been a couple until a few weeks before Valentine's Day when things suddenly cooled.
Before dating Mr Sable, Fennell was married to private equity banker Tom Fennell, who lives very close to the crash site where she was arrested.
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