Vanessa Jacobs Fennell has lodged an appeal against convictions and penalties imposed after she ploughed her Range Rover into multiple parked cars in Sydney's eastern suburb of Bellevue Hill in March and refused a breath test, court documents show.
The 54-year-old was pulled from her damaged SUV by onlookers after the March 21 crash and spent the night in Waverley police station. She pleaded guilty in Waverley Local Court to negligent driving, assaulting police, refusing to submit to a breath test and failing to give her particulars. Magistrate Kirk Dailly rejected a bid to have the matter dealt with under mental health provisions and convicted and fined Jacobs Fennell on several counts.
Mr. Dailly recorded a conviction and a $1,200 fine for refusing to submit to breath analysis, a $500 fine for negligent driving and a conviction and $800 fine for failing to provide particulars. The magistrate did not record a conviction for the charge of assaulting police but imposed a 12-month conditional release order. Jacobs Fennell was also disqualified from driving for six months.
Court filings say Jacobs Fennell attempted to pull free from an officer's grip at the scene and slapped an officer while being restrained. The collision damaged the side of her black Range Rover and left marks on a Tesla and two other parked cars, the court heard.
Her legal team had sought a Section 14 order — which allows some offending to be dealt with under mental health legislation rather than through the usual criminal sentencing — but the magistrate refused that application, stating the matter should proceed through the ordinary course of criminal law. Jacobs Fennell has appealed the convictions, fines, the conditional release order and the driving disqualification; the appeal is listed to be heard at Downing Centre District Court later this month.
Defence submissions in the Local Court said Jacobs Fennell had endured significant personal trauma in the period before the crash, including the deaths of two children and a recent relationship breakdown. Defence counsel told the court she had experienced dissociation and had been prescribed antidepressant medication three days before the incident, which they argued contributed to confusion and adverse reactions when combined with alcohol. Lawyers said she had been to a lunch in Double Bay hours before the crash and had consumed alcoholic drinks, an activity they said was not usually followed by driving.
Jacobs Fennell has publicly described herself as "profoundly remorseful and regretful" and said she "remained dignified" after the original court result. She told a news outlet that "every human being should be allowed to make a mistake." The socialite has been photographed at high-profile Sydney events and was previously shortlisted to appear on a proposed series of The Real Housewives of Sydney. She was formerly married to private equity banker Tom Fennell and earlier this year split from Melbourne businessman Nathan Sable.
Police records show she was escorted from the crash scene by officers and later spent the night in custody. The Local Court hearing that led to the convictions took place last month. The appeal will give a District Court judge the opportunity to review both the convictions and the magistrate's decision to refuse the Section 14 mental health application.
No further comment was immediately available from Jacobs Fennell's legal team or from police ahead of the scheduled appeal hearing.