A socialite who has advocated against domestic violence has been charged with assaulting her younger Greek ex-boyfriend and allegedly threatened to have his legs broken.
The Daily Telegraph reported that Sydney socialite and interior designer Janelle ‘Nellie’ Tilley, 58, is accused of assaulting her former boyfriend Paris Saint, 34, during their turbulent four-year relationship.
The police fact sheet states the pair met in 2019 while Tilley was holidaying in Greek Islands.
Mr Saint returned to Australia with her and moved into her Bellevue Hill home in Sydney’s eastern suburbs.
During the Covid pandemic, Mr Saint was forced to return to Greece and their relationship rekindled after he returned to Australia in 2022.
After the couple’s relationship ended in March, Mr Saint went to the police alleging that he’d been an ongoing victim of domestic violence.
The mother-of-three, who now uses her maiden name Janelle Foster, allegedly told Mr Saint that she would ‘get someone to break his legs’ if he went to the police.
Police allege after returning from a Byron Bay holiday in 2023, Tilley allegedly accused Mr Saint of having an affair.
Janelle Tilley, 58, is accused of assaulting her former boyfriend Paris Saint, 34 and allegedly threatened to have his legs broken. The ex-couple is pictured together in happier times
Tilley allegedly hit her partner in the face and scratched his neck until blood was visible.
On another occasion, she allegedly spat on Mr Saint as the couple allegedly argued in their car following a Valentine’s Day date at a Woollahra restaurant.
Tilley has pleaded not guilty to assault occasioning actual bodily harm, with a hearing set for March next year.
Under the conditions of an interim apprehended violence order imposed by the court, Tilley must not assault, stalk, threaten or harass Mr Saint.
Tilley’s lawyer said that their client would defend the allegations.
In 2018, Tilley tearfully told a court about the night her pub baron ex-boyfriend Phillip De Angelis, threw a cigarette lighter at her head, leaving her bloodied and crying on the floor.
In another incident, he punched Tilley in the mouth and on another occasion battered a bathroom door in a bid to get her after she discovered a sex tape with another woman on his phone.
Janelle Tilley (pictured) has pleaded not guilty to assault occasioning actual bodily harm, with a hearing set for March next year
In 2019, Tilley’s ex-partner pub baron Phillip De Angelis was sentenced to an 18-month intensive correction order for assaulting Tilley. The ex-couple is pictured
‘Seeing his enraged face is something I will never forget,’ Tilley told the court in a distressing victim impact statement, Tilley told the court at the time.
‘I can’t ever express how terrifying that is,’ she said at the time.
She spoke of ‘unwanted violence’ that was ‘unpredictable, fast and terrifying’.
Ms Tilley told the court what she experienced would teach her sons the importance of being ‘respectful, honourable and courteous to women’.
‘To never bully or intimidate or threaten people,’ she said.
At the time, then NSW Attorney-General Mark Speakman paid tribute to Tilley for speaking out against domestic violence.
‘I applaud Ms Tilley’s courage in holding her assailant to account for his appalling actions and her commitment to advocating for other victims of domestic and family violence,’ he said.
De Angelis pleaded guilty to five domestic violence-related charges and was sentenced to an 18-month intensive correction order which ended in September 2019.
Tilley was previously married to Simon Tilley, the brother of James Packer’s one-time confidant Ben Tilley.
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