Former model Emma Steel enjoyed a romantic date with her rumoured plastic surgeon boyfriend Dr Alireza Fallahi in Coogee, Sydney on Sunday.
The 43-year-old was at the centre of a sensational legal dispute in 2020, after she wrongly accused her now ex-husband Dr Timothy Steel of assaulting her following a Christmas party in 2019.
Following her marriage breakdown, Emma appears to have moved on and found happiness with Dr Fallahi, after the pair were first linked in the weeks after she gave evidence against Dr Steel.
Happy: Former model Emma Steel (left) was pictured out and about with her rumoured plastic surgeon boyfriend Dr Alireza Fallahi (right) in Coogee, Sydney on Sunday
Emma was all smiles as she and Dr Fallahi took her pet Pomeranian for a stroll through the eastern suburb at the weekend.
She wore an ankle-length red cut-out dress for the occasion, at one point carrying her yellow and Perspex stilettos in her hand as she took photos of the dog on her phone.
Emma wore a nude eyeshadow and full lashes, and added a hue of peach lip colour to her plump pout.
She accessorised with shimmering bracelets and a necklace.
Joy: Emma was all smiles as she and Dr Fallahi took her pet Pomeranian for a stroll through the eastern suburb at the weekend
Style: She wore an ankle-length red cut-out dress for the occasion, at one point carrying her yellow stilettos in her hand as she took photos of the dog on her phone
Giddy: Emma smiled as she looked on at the picture of the small pooch she had taken
Meanwhile, Dr Fallahi held onto the dog’s lead while his partner took photos of the pooch.
At one point Dr Fallahi lifted the little dog onto a wall, holding it at the waist while Emma smiled beside them.
The pair were also seen in his white car, with the dog sitting on Emma’s knee as Dr Fallahi drove away.
Emma was first linked with Dr Fallahi in the weeks after she gave evidence against Dr Steel – whom she was married to for 11 years – in a bitter court dispute waged in Downing Centre Local Court.
During that four-day hearing Mrs Steel accused the father of her children of financial abuse despite him giving her an allowance of up to $24,000 a month.
Content: Meanwhile, Dr Fallahi held onto the dog’s lead while his partner took photos of the pooch
Dolled up: Emma wore nude eyeshadow and full lashes for the occasion, and added a hue of peach lip colour to her plump pout
Sweet: At one point Dr Fallahi lifted the little dog onto a wall, holding it at the waist while Emma smiled beside them
Chatty: The pair chatted by the beach as Dr Fallahi held onto the little dog
Dr Steel, who had a $23million property portfolio, was accused of punching, slapping and kicking Mrs Steel the morning after a Christmas party in 2019.
Charges of assault occasioning actual bodily harm, common assault and damaging property were thrown out in July 2020 after magistrate Vivien Swain found inconsistencies in Mrs Steel’s evidence.
In court, Dr Steel’s solicitor Paul McGirr had described Mrs Steel as a witness of ‘very little credit’ and an ‘unhinged person’ who made up allegations against her husband.
‘I relation to her, she will make up anything to suit herself,’ Mr McGirr said.
‘The catalyst for all this is money. She was treating Dr Steel like a walking ATM.’
Weeks after the charges were dismissed Mrs Steel was pictured taking a video call with a man who appeared to be Dr Fallahi while stepping out of her Range Rover on a Saturday morning.
Beaming: Emma was pictured smiling widely while chatting with her partner
Fancy: Emma accessorised with shimmering bracelets and a necklace
She openly aimed the screen towards a photographer, and a dark-haired man in a blue business shirt was visible on the phone.
According to a profile found online in 2020, Dr Fallahi has a passion for ‘aesthetic medicine and surgery’.
‘He has been working alongside world-renowned industry leaders for over 10 years and has trained in a variety of medical and surgical fields,’ the profile stated.
Mrs Steel, who modelled as Emma-Kate Sullivan as a teenager, was previously married to champion jockey Shane Dye.
Their then 19-year-old son Jack gave evidence against his mother at the July assault hearing, describing her obsession with household finances.
Jack Dye said his mother regularly complained Dr Steel was stingy with money, despite her being paid an allowance of $24,000 a month.
Journey: Mrs Steel was first linked with Dr Fallahi in the weeks after she gave evidence against Dr Steel – whom she was married to for 11 years – in a bitter court dispute waged in Downing Centre Local Court
Rare sighting: The couple are not often pictured out and about together
Mrs Steel had also claimed in evidence her husband was having an affair and suggested he cut up a lacy red pair of her underwear.
‘Dr Steel was the victim of her vicious attacks,’ Mr McGirr told the court.
‘Poor old Dr Steel is the one getting his reputation sullied. Emma Steel is a woman who is playing the system and playing the victim.’
Dr Steel had told the court how his work Christmas party in 2019 descended into police being called to the couple’s sprawling Bellevue Hill home the next morning.
Mrs Steel, a onetime television host, alleged her husband had been having an affair with his secretary, with whom he was in a hotel room on the night of the Christmas party.
Dr Steel categorically denied assaulting his wife or ever having an affair with the receptionist – or anyone else – during their marriage.
Ex: Emma Steel was at the centre of a sensational legal dispute in 2020, after she wrongly accused her estranged husband Dr Timothy Steel (pictured) of assaulting her following a Christmas party in 2019
Bond: Weeks after the charges were dismissed Mrs Steel was pictured taking a video call with a man who appeared to be Dr Fallahi while stepping out of her Range Rover on a Saturday morning
He said he had been sound asleep on the morning after the party, face down in bed, when his wife woke him up by scratching his back and head.
‘I was awoken by severe pain in my back and behind my ears,’ he said. ‘I was hit about three or four times.’
From the time police arrived at the Steel family home Dr Steel maintained he had only acted in self defence and Ms Swain found nothing to disprove that.
Any injuries Mrs Steel sustained were the result of Dr Steel protecting himself against an attack by his wife.
‘I am satisfied that there is a reasonable possibility that the accused believed his conduct was necessary in order to defend himself,’ Ms Swain said.
‘I am satisfied that the way in which the scuffle occurred and the injuries that were occasioned to the complainant, that that was a reasonable response in the circumstances as the accused perceived them.’
Going home: The pair were also seen in Dr Fallahi’s white car, with the dog sitting on Emma’s knee as Dr Fallahi drove away
In court, Dr Steel described a troubled marriage and alleged his wife had previously attacked him.
‘She is regularly aggressive,’ he said. ‘Regularly confrontational and regularly demanding.
‘When she is confronted by difficulties her behaviour deteriorates. Certainly verbal abuse is common and verbal denigration is almost constant.’
Mrs Steel claimed she was the victim of ongoing financial abuse, which Ms Swain discounted. ‘I am not satisfied that that is made out either,’ she said.
Mrs Steel told the court her husband gave her $10,000 a month for personal expenses and $10,000 to run their household but sometimes the total sum was up to $24,000.
Dr Steel said the household allowance covered costs including their children’s expenses, after-school activities, clothing and groceries.
It did not go towards bills such as rates, utilities, school fees, holidays, motor vehicle expenses, insurance, takeaway food or restaurant meals.
The court heard in total Mrs Steel received $175,902 in regular payment over seven months in 2019, which included a top-up of $30,902 to the $2,500-a-month she was given.
Career: According to a profile found online in 2020, Dr Fallahi has a passion for ‘aesthetic medicine and surgery’
‘[Dr Fallahi] has been working alongside world-renowned industry leaders for over 10 years and has trained in a variety of medical and surgical fields,’ the 2020 online profile stated
Mr McGirr said it was ‘farcical’ under those circumstances for Mrs Steel to claim financial abuse.
‘I was living within our means of a four to six million annual salary,’ she said.
‘I was spending five per cent of our annual income.’
Mrs Steel claimed she was in fear of her husband and police had applied for an apprehended violence order against him.
‘I’m petrified because of the ongoing abuse,’ she told police.
Ms Swain dismissed the AVO application, finding while Mrs Steel may hold fears ‘I am not satisfied those fears are based on reasonable grounds’.
Dr Steel, a senior neurosurgeon at St Vincent’s Hospital in Darlinghurst, had been unable to practise due to the charges against him but has since returned to work.
Past: Emma previously modelled as Emma-Kate Sullivan as a teenager
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