Salim Mehajer, the former local councillor who has consistency made headlines since his $35 million wedding in 2015, has barraged his estranged wife with more than 400 emails since their separation, a court has heard.
According to a statement tendered in the Sutherland Local Court, some emails had even been doctored to look as if they’ve been sent by Aysha Mehajer — including one which expressed a desire to reconcile with the controversial property developer.
“These emails make me feel on edge and like I’m being stalked,” Ms Mehajer said in the July statement.
“I’m looking over my shoulder constantly and do not know what he is capable of.”
On Wednesday, magistrate Jaye Carney found the matter required urgent consideration and issued an interim apprehended violence order against Mehajer.
It follows a police application on his estranged wife’s behalf.
Mr Mehajer’s solicitor, Matthew Ward, opposed the interim AVO, saying the emails were not threatening, had been sent over a period of at least a year and claimed the former couple hadn’t met person to person in 13 months.
He also argued the allegations about doctored emails didn’t make any sense.
WATCH: Salim Mehajer is no stranger to courtrooms. Post continues…
However, Tamsin Beehag, a police prosecutor, said Ms Mehajer felt the emails were becoming more frequent and was concerned the situation would escalate.
“She doesn’t know what more emails could have been sent around which appear to have been written by her but which she says have not been written by her,” Ms Beehag said.
She also said Ms Mehajer, who is now known by her maiden name Learmonth, had gone to the effort of changing her phone number in an attempt to “avoid any contact whatsoever.”
“She’s going to extreme lengths to stop the contact, given the phone number is in a different name,” she said.
The matter is scheduled to be in court on October 4, when a hearing date to consider a final AVO will be fixed.
Mehajer is pictured with his estranged wife. (Image via Instagram).
It follows shocking footage of Mr Mehajer hurling abuse at his estranged wife.
In the video obtained by A Current Affair, the polarising figure was shown yelling into a phone camera — threatening both his wife and her family.
“Aysha, you’ve got five minutes to give me a call! Give me a call in five minutes … I’m gonna rape your mum and your f—ing dad! Call me now!” he says in the video. “Aysha, I hope you die, you sl-t.”
“I swear on the Koran, I swear on God, I’m not leaving today.”
“And I hope you die, you f—ing sl-t. You f—ed 12 guys, you sl-t. You f—ed 12 guys. You f—ing sl-t. You f—ing sl-t.”
WATCH: Mehajer claims the video was taken out of context. Post continues…
The videos were apparently released by a concerned friend of Ms Mehajer.
However, Mr Mehajer maintains it was all a set-up.
“Aysha is a beautiful, warm, amazing individual, whom I believe was betrayed, or set-up by someone who supplied A Current Affair with these out of context videos to make a sensationalised story,” he said in a statement to Fairfax.
Prior to the footage airing, reporter Alison Piotrwoski told Today that the content was hard to swallow.
“I’ve worked at A Current Affair for nearly eight years now and I’ve seen some very confronting stuff — some we’ve shown on camera, some we haven’t. And I do have to say, this is the most confronting video I’ve seen in my eight years on the show,” she said.
“What’s more disgusting is that there were threats of sexual violence, and I think that’s what has really shaken me.”
