Sydney private equity boss Tom Fennell has been granted bail after being arrested and charged with domestic violence offences against his former partner, Mackenzie Bridgewood.
Police arrested the 53-year-old financier on Saturday over an alleged domestic violence incident involving Bridgewood on May 21, five and a half months after the pair first met. He appeared before the New South Wales Bail Division Court on Sunday after being charged with offences including assault occasioning actual bodily harm and common assault.
The court heard that the 21-year-old Bridgewood, who is more than 30 years younger than Fennell, did not report the alleged May assault to police until Friday. Fennell's criminal lawyer, Paul McGirr, told the court that his client strenuously denied the allegations and would vigorously defend the charges.
Prosecutors opposed bail at Sunday's hearing, arguing that Fennell posed an unacceptable risk to the community. Although the presiding judge reportedly described the prosecution case against him as strong, the court ultimately granted his bail application. Under New South Wales law, assault occasioning actual bodily harm is a more serious charge than common assault and applies where an alleged attack causes physical injury.
Pregnancy and paternity doubts in court
During Sunday's bail proceedings, the court also heard that Bridgewood is pregnant with her second child, a development first reported by the Daily Mail last month. McGirr told the court that Fennell had growing doubts about the child's paternity and had not been confirmed as the unborn baby's father.
A photograph obtained by the Daily Mail showed Bridgewood in a bikini at Bondi Beach looking unmistakably pregnant, with a friend of hers claiming that she is "six months along". According to reports, the baby's paternity has been linked to another wealthy business identity, and Bridgewood is rumoured to be romantically involved with a businessman currently going through a high-profile separation.
Bridgewood is already a young mother to a two-year-old daughter whose father is a radiologist, while Fennell is a father of two.
Melbourne Cup Day meeting and background claims
Fennell and Bridgewood met exactly one year ago on Melbourne Cup Day, Australia's premier annual horse racing event held on the first Tuesday of November. The pair crossed paths at an upmarket Japanese izakaya restaurant and bar in Double Bay, an affluent harbourside neighbourhood in Sydney's eastern suburbs.
Wearing a pale blue dress at their first meeting, the 21-year-old blonde reportedly charmed the private equity investor with accounts of an exceptionally privileged upbringing. According to insiders, she told Fennell that she was studying medicine at university after attending Kincoppal-Rose Bay, a prestigious Catholic girls' school on Sydney Harbour, and achieving an Australian Tertiary Admission Rank of 99.6.
An ATAR of 99.6 places a high school graduate in the top 0.4 per cent of students across Australia, the level typically required for entry into undergraduate medicine. Bridgewood also reportedly claimed that she grew up in nearby Vaucluse, one of Sydney's wealthiest coastal suburbs, where her wealthy family spent considerable time overseas while giving her a substantial monthly allowance.
Family tragedy claims and June split
During the whirlwind romance that followed their meeting in Double Bay, insiders claimed that Fennell was often left overwhelmed by Bridgewood's stories about her upbringing and family life.
In one account believed to have alarmed Fennell, Bridgewood allegedly told him that she had a "twin sister who was abducted and murdered in the US when she was 11 years old". Just as Fennell was considering walking away from the relationship, Bridgewood allegedly claimed that her mother had taken her own life.
According to a source, the succession of reported tragedies left Fennell feeling rattled and prompted him to seek out a member of Bridgewood's family for advice. The passionate romance came to an abrupt end in June, with sources attributing the breakup to "trust issues" unrelated to Bridgewood's past.
Bellevue Hill bail aftermath and luxury travel
Since being granted bail, Fennell has remained at his mansion in Bellevue Hill, another wealthy suburb in Sydney's east. He left the property briefly on Monday morning to run an errand at a bank in the city, where he was confronted by the Daily Mail.
Fennell declined to answer questions when approached in Sydney on Monday morning and directed reporters to his civil lawyer, Rebekah Giles.
Before the couple split, Bridgewood was photographed leaving Fennell's Bellevue Hill home back in May. During their brief relationship, she appeared to enjoy a jet-setting lifestyle, spending time at his Bellevue Hill residence and travelling first class to Paris and Switzerland, including an Emirates flight that reportedly had cabin crew talking.
Since the June breakup, the pair have reportedly not been seen together in the same social circles, even after Bridgewood relocated from Sydney's inner west to her grandparents' home in the eastern suburbs.
Previous marriage and death of Annabelle Price
Fennell's relationship with Bridgewood raised eyebrows in Sydney's eastern suburbs, not only because of the age gap of more than 30 years, but also because of Bridgewood's striking resemblance to his late former fiancee, Annabelle Price. Fennell was briefly engaged to Price, a Sydney socialite and former model who died by suicide in her unit in the beachside suburb of Maroubra in March this year.
Before his engagement to Price, Fennell was married to charity campaigner Vanessa Jacobs Fennell, who now resides in the former couple's coastal home in Tamarama. On Saturday, the day Fennell was arrested, Vanessa Jacobs Fennell was spotted at Melbourne's Derby Day enjoying champagne in the Mumm Marquee alongside a woman wearing an eye-catching outfit.
