Updated ,first published
Accused domestic abuser Antony Catalano is free to travel to Bali to be with his family as his high-powered legal team continues work to resolve allegations he threatened to kill his wife in their multimillion-dollar St Kilda penthouse.
Catalano arrived at Melbourne Magistrates’ Court on Friday with his three-person legal team, which includes new barrister, Dermot Dann, KC, after a meeting in the barrister’s city chambers.
Dann told magistrate Donna Bakos his client hadn’t “shut the door” on a possible plea deal, but the matter remained unresolved and there was potential for charges to be withdrawn at the request of the complainant.
“It’s an unusually delicate ... situation. We have a complainant who doesn’t want the changes to proceed in any way shape or form,” Dann said.
“Bound up in that is the family situation; Mr Catalano and his wife are trying to pick up the pieces and put them back together.”
Catalano, the former chief executive of Domain, is accused of an alleged hour-long attack in March on his wife, Stefanie, that ended when she escaped the couple’s St Kilda home and fled onto the street for help.
On Friday, Stefanie Catalano appeared via video link from where she has been staying in Bali with her family, and was represented in court by her own lawyer.
Dann told the court he had “grave difficulty” with some charges including the allegations of strangulation and the swinging of an iron, which he told the magistrate “did not happen”.
The barrister asked for two months to continue discussions with the prosecution before coming back to update the court on the path forward.
“We’re exploring a resolution. We want to demonstrate remorse. The matter needs time to sort all that out,” Dann said.
Dann also sought to have his client’s bail conditions amended to change his living address to Byron Bay, and to also allow Catalano to travel overseas.
“The family is in the process of relocating overseas. We want to put that on the record. He will be spending a significant amount of time overseas,” the barrister said.
Dann suggested the change of address could be done by agreement with the lead police investigator, but Bakos said it would need to be formally added to Catalano’s bail conditions. Since his release on bail in March, it has been mandated that he lives at his St Kilda penthouse.
Outside court, Catalano, who built his business empire in the media industry, told reporters he had recently been to Bali.
In March, the court heard Catalano was abusing substances and wearing only underwear when he allegedly threatened to kill his wife. CCTV footage allegedly shows the 59-year-old dragging his wife by her hair and ankles before brandishing an iron and swinging it with force towards her head in the laundry.
Police allege Stefanie grabbed her husband’s underwear in the hope of leaving evidence for police if she were killed.
Stefanie told police that after fleeing onto the street, she flagged down a motorist for help and was treated in hospital for a broken tailbone.
Antony Catalano has been charged with making threats to kill, unlawful imprisonment, recklessly causing injury, intentionally choke, strangle or suffocate, and four counts of assault.
The couple have four children alongside Antony’s further five children from previous marriages.
Since Catalano’s arrest, Stefanie has made two “statements of no complaint” with Victoria Police, saying she does not support the case against her husband and will not give evidence against him.
She has also lodged an ethical standards complaint about her treatment, alleging authorities were seeking to “destroy” her millionaire businessman husband.
In family violence matters, police can still proceed with their case regardless of a complainant’s views. The case against Catalano will rely on CCTV footage of the common areas adjacent to the couple’s $30 million apartment and what Stefanie told police on the scene.
After Catalano’s arrest, he admitted himself to a residential rehabilitation facility, saying he was “struggling with significant mental health and substance abuse issues”.
The real estate executive turned regional media entrepreneur is on leave from his positions at Australian Community Media and View Media Group. Last month, he also resigned from his directorships of 19 Cashews and 20 Cashews, the investment vehicles he had controlled alongside billionaire Alex Waislitz.
The entity owns Australian Community Media, publisher of The Canberra Times and Newcastle Herald among others, and has a significant stake in View Media Group.
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