Latest news with #DanielDrakopoulos
Daily Mail
26-05-2025
- Daily Mail
EXCLUSIVE Explosive phone call restaurant tycoon's son doesn't want you to hear: Fiancée was beaten so violently she is permanently injured - and how he's spending a fortune to avoid his 'greatest fear'
An explosive phone call secretly recorded by the fiancée of a multimillionaire restaurateur's son reveals how he beat her so hard she has a permanently damaged eye. Daniel Drakopoulos, 29, called Monique Clark after he broke into her home and threw her against a wall. Daniel, the son of Sydney 's 'King of the Waterfront' restaurateur Bill Drakopoulos, choked Ms Clark until she couldn't breathe, kicked her, and headbutted her left eye so hard her sight remains damaged. The transcript of the harrowing call exclusively obtained by Daily Mail Australia also shows the depth of Ms Clark's emotional trauma following the assault. Transcripts of two versions of the phone call were tendered as exhibits at the Downing Centre Local Court. The call revealed Drakopoulos' greatest fear of going to prison for the attack which began in Ms Clark's home in Paddington, in Sydney's East, and continued on nearby Oxford Street. 'That is my worst nightmare going to prison,' Drakopoulos whined in the call before asking her, 'so do you want me to go to jail? Do you think it's fair for me to go to jail?' According to the tendered transcript of the call, Ms Clark replied: 'I want whatever's fair. I want justice.' She also admitted she had been so 'broken' and fearful since the brutal attack that she considered taking her own life. Drakopoulos was charged over the savage assault in February last year at Manly police station, just a short drive from one of his father's famed restaurants, Ormeggio on The Spit. The former private schoolboy is, like his three siblings, employed in the family's multi-million dollar restaurant business. He turned up at court last week with his entire family including father, Bill. The phone call, which the tendered transcripts reveal as basically a full recorded confession made by Drakopoulos, was not played in open court and the offender's lawyers said 'there was an admissibility issue because of potential illegalities' in Ms Clark's recording. While it can be an offence to record a phone call without a person's permission, under the Listening Devices Act if a person has a reasonable apprehension they are going to be subject to an offence they may record it for their own protection. The tendered transcripts were the full 19 minute call made by Drakopoulos on April 13, and an eight minute 'snippet' which contained the most agonising details of the assault. Before the attack, Ms Clark had been dating Drakopoulos for two-and-a-half years and in the call, which occurred eight weeks after the assault, she alluded to problems in the relationship before the assault took place. She described the attack as 'the last straw when you beat me up (after) everything you've ... put me through. Daniel Drakopoulos' entire family, including mother Kathleen (left) and brother Perry (right) turned up in support for his hearing at the Downing Centre which will conclude with a sentencing on June 19 'You hit me. .. you choked me. You f***en threw me. You kicked me. You headbutted me. You broke into my home. 'You choked me so hard with your hands you left fingerprints and marks on my neck. I couldn't breathe. 'You've permanently damaged my left eye. I spent last night in hospital. I spent Monday in hospital because I couldn't see because you headbutted it so hard. 'You f***ed me up.' Ms Clark admitted in the call that she had since lost a fifth of her body weight. 'I'm tiny,' she said at one point in the call, 'you could have killed me. You f***ed me up. And after everything you put me through you did that. 'I'm scared. Every morning I feel pain when I wake up. Physical pain, emotional pain. 'Do I destroy myself? Do I take my own life to put myself out of this misery? What the fuck did I do to deserve any of those things.' Daniel's fiancée said each time she went home (above) and saw the hole in the wall left by the attack she was triggered again and emotionally traumatised While admitting what he did to her during the 19 minute call, Drakopoulos seemed most animated when responding to her repeated warnings that could go to prison. She is also recorded telling him to leave her alone: 'I told you not to contact me. You still contact me? You turn up to the house. You call me. You email me. You contact my family?' In the exchange, Drakopoulos conceded that since the assault he had bombarded Ms Clark with phone calls and '10,000 texts every day', but it was because he wanted to know how she was doing. He also appeared to consider that even after beating her up, their relationship might still have a chance: 'I just wanna hear your voice. And I don't care if you tell me "Daniel I have moved on". If that's what it is.' Ms Clark described how she was triggered by seeing the hole in the wall at her home where Drakopoulos threw either her, or her phone, and at the spot on Oxford Street where he viciously headbutted her eye. 'You could go to jail,' she told him in the call. ' 'Do you know what a section 37 is? That's for strangulation. 'The minimum for strangulation is five years in prison. So you understand that? 'And when you plead not guilty and there's evidence, that angers the court even more. Because you're wasting their time by lying. Do you understand that?' A prison sentence may now be a remote possibility for Drakopoulos, who turned up at court for what was meant to be a lengthy hearing with two of Sydney's most prominent lawyers, Philip Strickland SC and Stephen Russell. It appears he, or his parents, have spent an eye-watering amount on top shelf legal advice to keep their son from going to jail. Drakopoulos initially pleaded not guilty to five charges until prosecutors withdrew four counts in court on May 15, including the choking charge and one serious assault charge. But Drakopoulos then pleaded guilty to assault occasioning actual bodily harm and malicious damage. He will be sentenced on June 19.
Daily Mail
15-05-2025
- Daily Mail
EXCLUSIVE Ormeggio restaurant tycoon's son Daniel Drakopoulos faces court accused of assaulting ex-fiancée and stealing her $40,000 engagement ring
Multi-millionaire restaurant tycoon heir Daniel Drakopoulos allegedly confessed in a phone call two days after he was accused of choking his fiancée and stealing her $40,000 engagement ring, a court has heard. Drakopoulos, 29, was represented by one of Sydney's most prominent barristers Philip Strickland SC when he fronted Downing Centre Local Court on Thursday. He was supported in court by his 'King of the Waterfront' diner boss dad Bill Drakopoulos, mother Kathleen, brother Perry, his sister, and other relatives. He was accused of breaking into the home of his then-partner Monique Clark one night in February 2024, throwing her mobile phone against a wall, and allegedly choking and seriously assaulting her, before taking the ring. The former private schoolboy, who lives on the millionaires row of harbourside homes at Seaforth on Sydney's northern beaches, was arrested the following morning. He was charged at Manly police station, just a short drive from one of his father's famed restaurants, Ormeggio on The Spit. He initially pleaded not guilty to five charges until prosecutors withdrew four counts in court on Thursday, including the choking charge and one serious assault charge. But Drakopoulos then pleaded guilty to assault occasioning actual bodily harm and malicious damage. His father is the renowned restaurateur behind a string of luxury venues in Sydney 's most elite waterside suburbs, including Manta at Woolloomooloo Finger Wharf - a favourite of celebrities including Elton John and Jon Bon Jovi. His empire also includes Sails on Sydney Harbour at Lavender Bay, Ventuno on Walsh Bay, and Ripples at four locations around the city. Daniel Drakopoulos pleaded guilty to assaulting his ex-fiancée after his barrister brokered a deal with prosecutors who originally charged him with choking her and stealing her $40,000 engagement ring Daniel Drakopoulos (centre) is the son of restaurant mogul, 'King of the Waterfront', Bill Drakopoulos (right) whose family attended the court hearing in force on Thursday Daniel and his three siblings, who all work as directors of their father's Sydney Restaurant Group, have lived an idyllic life flying around the world on luxury escapes to places such as the Maldives, Ibiza, Tokyo and Greece. It appeared that most of the clan was at the court and his lawyer told Magistrate Brett Thomas that Drakopoulos was 'obviously very anxious … for this matter to proceed. (He's) come here with his family'. Constable Duncan Everett told the court Drakopoulos allegedly phoned Ms Clark two days after the alleged incident, in a call that was at least 19 minutes long. He said there was an eight-minute 'snippet' of the call and police tendered transcripts of both versions of the call to the court. The also gave Magistrate Thomas four pages of screenshots from Ms Clark's phone. Police allegeD Daniel went to Ms Clark's Paddington rented home in Sydney's east and broke in on February 4 last year. Prosecutors subsequently withdrew the charge of break and enter with intent. He then destroyed or damaged her phone by throwing it against the wall, and assaulted her. According to court documents, Danieé allegedly stole his fiancées engagement ring, worth $40,000, but in court on Thursday, prosecutors withdrew the charge of larceny. Daniel Drakopoulos (left), pictured with his father Bill (centre) and brother Perry (right), has pleading guilty to the serious assault of his ex-fiancée, but a charge of stealing her $40,000 engagement ring was withdrawn The plea deal came after a legal row over the use of the evidence about Drakopoulos' phone call after the alleged attack. Ms Clark had not sought permission from Mr Drakopoulos to made a recording of the phone call, and the prosecution had not provided evidence of the circumstances. Con. Everett told the court he had simply 'forgotten' to provide details about the call and about videos taken of Ms Clarke's house following the incident. Sgt Clarke admitted there had been oversights in the prosecution's preparation for the case which was set down for a two-day hearing, but for which she requested an adjournment to get it 'back on the rails'. Mr Strickland opposed this, saying the prosecution's failures went 'beyond mere oversight' and that the 'degree of negligence is very high'. But over the lunch break on Thursday, each side resolved their differences and they brokered the deal for him to admit the two charges while the others were dropped. A graduate from the exclusive St Ignatius College at Riverview, Daniel Jackson Darkopoulos has more recently developed new ventures to expand his father's hugely successful business beyond its high-end Sydney restaurants. Along with his younger brother, Daniel was 'growing Drak Hotels, another part of Sydney Restaurant Group', which includes the Coast Hotel at Budgewoi on the NSW Central Coast. Drakopoulos will be sentenced on Friday.
