‘Very nasty': ABC personality's fiery fence dispute with neighbour sparks ‘cover up' accusation
Karla Martinez, a prize-winning Melbourne architect, was initially charged with assaulting Warhurst's then partner, Brian Steendyk, in an explosive row in late December 2022 captured on police bodycam and mobile phone footage. You can watch some of it in the video player above.
The charges were later dropped, but Ms Martinez has now accused the ABC of running a 'one-sided hit job' with an article on its website and social media last May about the incident, without disclosing that the Spicks and Specks presenter was a central player in the bitter feud, The Australian reports.
The mother-of-three claims the ABC breached its editorial guidelines and displayed flagrant bias after picturing and naming her in the article, while not naming Warhurst and her then boyfriend.
It stated only that Ms Martinez has been accused of 'unlawfully assaulting a neighbour, who lives with an ABC contractor'.
The article has since been removed from the ABC's website, and the broadcaster has not responded to questions about the source of the story and the reasons it was eventually taken down.
'That article destroyed my job, life, career and harmed my family while protecting the source of the story,' Ms Martinez told The Australian.
'It was essentially about a civil dispute which escalated to numerous criminal charges against me — which have all been struck out by the courts. The ABC doesn't even name Myf or her partner in the story — why not? Because they're trying to protect their own. My lawyers have repeatedly asked the ABC to reveal the source of the story but they are refusing to say. They're trying to cover it up.'
Warhurst vehemently denied playing any role in the ABC story.
Her agent told The Australian she was unaware of the May 2024 article's existence 'until a friend brought it to her attention after it was published' and that she had 'no involvement in its publication and has wished at all times for this matter to remain private'.
The wild dispute at their North Warrandyte home in Melbourne's outskirts broke out in late December 2022, when Mr Steendyk started tearing down a 26-metre stretch of disputed fence using a 'chainsaw and grinder'.
Tensions between the neighbours had been brewing over a concrete wall Ms Martinez intended to construct along the property line.
Ms Martinez told The Australian 'everything started out friendly enough' when Warhurst moved into the home in early 2022, but 'all hell broke loose as soon as they found out we were going to start constructing a concrete wall along the property line'.
'She hated it — the wall, design, everything,' she said.
She alleged the couple decided to take matters into their own hands on December 28, 2022, and began ripping down the contested section of the fence.
'So I go out and started screaming and it all becomes very nasty, and I asked my kids to call triple-0 and get the police to come,' Ms Martinez said.
Warhurst also called triple-0, telling police Mr Steendyk had been 'hit on the head with a pipe' by Ms Martinez 'as he was trying to cut down the fence'.
Officers from Eltham police station arrived and tried to defuse the situation.
The blow-up led to years of back-and-forth legal salvos between the neighbours, including competing intervention orders.
The ABC's article was published as Ms Martinez was waiting to face court on the yet-to-be-dismissed assault charge, as well as seven 'criminal charges' over the construction of the wall, which carried a $200,000 fine.
Ms Martinez said all those charges had since been dropped.
She sent an email to ABC chairman Kim Williams accusing the broadcaster of deliberately 'humiliating and defaming me through malicious content which Myf [allegedly] orchestrated' and demanding the presenter be stood down.
A lawyer for the ABC responded, telling Ms Martinez her 'assumptions and assertions … are inaccurate', according to The Australian.
'On this basis, the ABC does not agree to comply with your request,' he wrote. 'In any event, we note (without admission) the article in question has been removed from websites controlled by the ABC.'
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