Fashion designer Wayne Cooper has been accused of assaulting his wife Sarah Marsh weeks after the couple sold their $11million beachside Sydney mansion and bought a $5million rural estate in Byron Bay.
Cooper, who has a previous conviction for attacking onetime model Marsh, has been charged with two counts of domestic violence-related common assault.
The charges come barely 12 months after Cooper furiously denied he and Marsh had ended their 25-year relationship.
Fashion designer Wayne Cooper has been charged with assaulting his wife Sarah Marsh barely 12 months after furiously denying they had ended their 25-year relationship. Cooper and Marsh are pictured arriving at the launch of a Myer collection at Sydney’s Carriageworks
Cooper, who has a previous conviction for attacking onetime model Marsh, has been charged with two counts of domestic violence-related common assault. He is pictured outside Waverley Local Court in Sydney’s eastern suburbs in June 2008
The 58-year-old is also the subject of an interim apprehended violence order taken out by police to protect his 54-year-old wife.
As well as the usual AVO conditions preventing assault, threats, stalking, harassment and intimidation, Cooper must not approach Marsh or contact her in any way unless through a lawyer.
In May last year Cooper and Marsh denied rumours they had split after a newspaper report claimed they were ‘going their separate ways’.
Cooper, who has two children with Marsh, told Daily Mail Australia at the time the story was ‘completely fabricated’.
‘My wife Sarah and I are currently in Byron Bay for a friend’s birthday and looking at real estate,’ Cooper said.
‘We are currently speaking to our lawyer regarding a course of action in response to this damaging article printed on Mother’s Day.’
In March the couple paid $5,090,000 for this five-bedroom, six-bathroom estate with a tennis court, resort-style swimming pool and landscaped gardens at Myocum near Byron Bay
Cooper and Marsh sold their home at Tamarama in Sydney’s eastern suburbs for $11,050,000 in February, having bought the five-bedroom house (above) for $5.5million in 2011
Cooper and Marsh had sold their home at Tamarama in Sydney’s eastern suburbs for $11,050,000 in February, having bought the five-bedroom, five-bathroom house for $5.5million in 2011.
The next month they paid $5,090,000 for a five-bedroom, six-bathroom estate with a tennis court, resort-style swimming pool and landscaped gardens at Myocum near Byron Bay.
Cooper was placed on a two-year good behaviour bond in December 2008 after pleading guilty to assaulting Marsh just days after she had cancer surgery.
Charges of assault occasioning actual bodily harm and stalking and intimidation were withdrawn at Waverley Local Court.
The charges arose from a dispute at the couple’s previous Tamarama home six months earlier and Cooper had initially said he would ‘vigorously defend’ them all.
Cooper declined to comment outside court on that occasion but Marsh said she was happy with the result. ‘The truth came out, that’s what I’m here for,’ she said.
The designer’s barrister Ian McClintock SC told the court Cooper and Marsh’s relationship had deteriorated in the past couple of years and they had sought counselling.
The pair had been arguing about money on the night of the attack in June.
‘The emotional temperature of the relationship went up,’ Mr McClintock said. ‘Old coals were raked over and past disputes were raised.’
Cooper is the subject of an interim apprehended violence order taken out by police to protect his wife. As well as the usual AVO conditions Cooper must not approach Marsh or contact her in any way unless through a lawyer. The couple is pictured in Sydney in 2010
The assault had occurred when Marsh tried to demonstrate how she alleged Cooper had pushed him while on holiday at Port Douglas in far north Queensland.
Mr McClintock said his client had then shown Marsh what he believed had happened by pushing her to the chest and shoulder.
‘We accept… that there was a hostile intent in the end and there was an assault,’ Mr McClintock told the court.
The court heard Marsh had undergone surgery just days before the assault to have her gall bladder removed due to cancer.
Cooper had unsuccessfully sought to avoid conviction so he could continue his regular travels to the United States.
Cooper was placed on a two-year good behaviour bond in December 2008 after pleading guilty to assaulting Marsh just days after she had cancer surgery. He is pictured outside court
British-born Cooper grew up in London’s East End and moved to Australia in 1985, studying fashion design at East Sydney Technical College.
He started the labels Brave, Wayne Cooper and Wayne. His clothes were once sold at two boutiques in Melbourne and are now available at Myer department stores.
Cooper’s Australian Fashion Week shows have featured models including Linda Evangelista, Eva Herzigova and Sarah O’Hare (now Murdoch) and he was a regular guest on the reality TV series Australia’s Next Top Model.
He is due to appear in Waverley Local Court next week.
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