Furniture, security cameras and a tanning bed were among several items removed from Salim Mehajer’s Vaucluse home on Monday as the 31-year-old appeared in court on an assault charge.
A group of men were seen loading the disgraced property developer’s possessions into a removal truck after Mehajer was ordered on Friday to pay $18,000 in back rent and given 21 days to vacate the property.
A massage chair, a washing machine and couches were also seen being loaded into the large white truck as a man used a drill to remove CCTV cameras.
His youngest sister Mary – a former Miss Lebanon Australia – has been living in the house since Mehajer was taken into police custody over claims he staged a car crash as an elaborate plot to avoid appearing in court on an assault charge.
A group of removalists were seen carrying furniture, a massage chair and a tanning bed from Salim Mehajer’s Sydney home on Monday as the 31-year-old appeared in court
The men were filmed by Channel Nine loading the disgraced property developer’s possessions into a large white truck after Mehajer was ordered on Friday to pay $18,000 in back rent and given 21 days to vacate the property
A washing machine and couches were also seen being carried out of the home as a man used a drill to remove CCTV cameras
Mehajer’s youngest sister Mary – a former Miss Lebanon Australia – has been living in the house (pictured) since he was taken into police custody over claims he staged a car crash as an elaborate plot to avoid appearing in court on an assault charge
Mehajer pleaded not guilty to slamming Channel Seven reporter Laura Banks’ hand in a Porsche door when he appeared at the Downing Centre Local Court via video link on Monday
On Friday, he was given 21 days to vacate the house in an order granted at the New South Wales Civil and Administrative Tribunal. It is not known who organised for the removal of the items from Mehajer’s home.
A Rolls Royce and a BMW, which Mehajer was often seen driving, have since been removed from the property’s garage.
Mehajer pleaded not guilty to slamming Channel Seven reporter Laura Banks’ hand in a Porsche door when he appeared at the Downing Centre Local Court via video link on Monday.
Banks and other journalists pursued the 31-year-old in on April 2, 2017, as he left a Sydney CBD police station following his arrest over separate allegations he assaulted a taxi driver outside Star Casino.
Mehajer told the court he felt ‘cornered, bullied and harassed’ by the media pack waiting media outside Day Street police station where he had been taken early that morning.
‘I didn’t want to face the media,’ Mehajer said during the hearing.
Property developer Salim Mehajer (right) has faced court charged with assaulting Sydney TV reporter Laura Banks (left) after he allegedly slammed his car door on her last April
Two men are sen lifting a large piece of furniture into the truck on Monday
On Friday, Mehajer was given 21 days to vacate the house in an order granted at the New South Wales Civil and Administrative Tribunal
A tradesman is seen removing the many CCTV security cameras
Tanning beds were removed from the Vaucluse mansion
The court heard Mehajer had traded insults with Ms Banks, who teased him about his height, after he asked if the jewellery she was wearing was a ring or a key ring.
‘It all happened very quickly and my only thought was to leave,’ Mehajer said of the door slamming.
‘As selfish as this may sound I wasn’t aware of the extent of the impact.’
Mehajer said while he was smiling during the confrontations with media he was not enjoying himself.
‘I just unfortunately smile inappropriately sometimes,’ he said. ‘It’s just the character I am.’
Ms Banks denied she deliberately provoked Mehajer during their confrontation prior to the alleged assault.
She even suggested Mehajer had been flirting with her when he asked: ‘Why are you attached to me?’
‘It was almost suggestive, flirtatious,’ Ms Banks told the court.
‘He was suggestive in some of his comments. Asking me to get in the back of his car felt like that was suggestive and (had) innuendo behind it.’
Mehajer’s barrister Phillip Boulten, SC, accused Ms Banks of goading Mehajer about his height.
‘[She said]”Why have you got such high heels? Is it to make yourself look bigger or taller or something like that?” Mr Boulten said.
‘This was deliberate goading of the accused.’
At an earlier point in one video Mehajer looks at jewellery on Ms Banks’s hand and asks ‘Is that a key ring or a ring? Who bought you that?’
Ms Banks (pictured) denied she deliberately provoked Mehajer during their confrontation prior to the alleged assault, claiming the disgraced property developer was almost ‘flirting’ with her
Mehajer told the court he felt cornered, bullied and harassed before the car door incident, but said he ‘absolutely (did) not’ mean to slam Ms Banks in the car door
Mehajer told the court he felt cornered, bullied and harassed before he got into a white Porsche to leave the scene.
Asked if he meant to slam Porsche’s door on Ms Banks he said: ‘Absolutely not’.
Ms Banks was shown on video asking Mehajer why he was wearing such high heels.
Mehajer responded ‘to step over you’.
Mr Boulten asked Ms Banks if her actions, including telling a taxi driver of Mehajer’s alleged assault of another cab driver, were designed to prolong the situation.
‘It was pertinent to the story,’ Ms Banks replied, adding that she was more bemused than amused.
‘Did you ever think about whether you had reached the point where your actions crossed the boundary between proper and improper?’ Mr Boulton said.
‘I don’t believe they did,’ Ms Banks replied on Monday.
Mr Boulten grilled Ms Banks on why she continually pursued Mehajer even though it was clear he did not want to comment.
‘You just never know what you’ll get with Mr Mehajer,’ Ms Banks said.
‘Can you get that thing off my leg? Can you stop touching me?’ Mehajer told Ms Banks as she pushed a microphone towards him, the court heard
Taking to the witness stand on Monday morning, Banks told the court she had been standing in the doorway of the Porsche trying to ask Mehajer questions when the alleged assault occurred
Earlier on Monday, Ms Banks told the court she had been standing in the doorway of the Porsche trying to ask Mehajer questions when the alleged assault occurred.
‘Mr Mehajer abruptly shut the door,’ she said.
‘I was jammed in the door. My hand was bruised and also my back. I was squashed in the car.’
Her left hand caused her pain for an hour or two.
‘But my back is still quite sore,’ Ms Banks said.
In footage of the incident, Ms Banks appears approaching Mehajer as he gets behind the wheel of the Porsche with the door open.
‘Watch it, watch it,’ Mehajer warns. ‘Watch it.
‘Do you want to hop in the back seat? Jump in, I’ll have a little chat with ya. Just jump in,’ Mehajer said.
As Banks trails behind Mehajer he says: ‘Why are you so attached to me? Have some respect.’
Mehajer then closes the door, catching Ms Banks.
Earlier videos show her asking Mehajer questions while he waits for a lift, including if he had hit ‘rock bottom’.
While Mehajer was in the back seat of the taxi before the Porsche incident Ms Banks put a microphone through the drivers’ seat and it became wedged under his leg.
‘Can you get that thing off my leg?’ Mehajer asks. ‘Can you stop touching me?’.
Magistrate Joanne Keogh will hand down her decision on Friday.
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