Former Sydney Mayor Salim Mehajer Arrested For Domestic Violence Charges

Former Auburn Deputy Mayor Salim Mehajer will return to the courthouse to face charges of domestic violence and larceny, after he was arrested outside a Sydney cafe on Wednesday.

The NSW Police Domestic Violence High Risk Offender team arrested Mehajer in Wentworth Point on 4 November, outside a local café.

He was then taken to Auburn Police Station. He faces charges of alleged domestic violence, larceny of greater than $15,000, and intent to cause fear of physical harm.

Appearing in court on 5 November, Judge Stuart Devine denied Mehajer’s bail, with his lawyer Mohommed Bazzi arguing for his release.

The ABC reported from court that Judge Devine referred to other instances of Mehajer breaching his parole in the past as “his appealing record of dishonesty” and described him as “someone that can’t be relied upon to comply with bail conditions”.

But this isn’t the first time the former Deputy Mayor has seen the inside of the courtroom. Mehajer has been jailed several times for various offences since 2018, when he was convicted for electoral fraud.

Since then, he has been convicted of offences relating to domestic violence, fraud, perverting the course of justice and making a false statement under oath.

He was released from custody 16 months ago.

More charges for Salim Mehajer

In 2023, Mehajer was found guilty of six domestic abuse charges after a three-week trial. The disgraced former mayor of Auburn City Council was accused of several acts of violence, including choking his then-partner until she fell unconscious and threatening to kill her and her family.

He was charged with three counts of common assault, intimidation intending to cause fear and physical harm, intentional choking, and assault occasioning actual bodily harm with an alternate charge of common assault.

In July 2025, he was released from prison on parole after serving three years and nine months of his sentence of seven years and nine months. At the time, the NSW State Parole Authority assessed Mehajer as at a medium risk of reoffending.

Mehajer was the deputy mayor of Auburn City Council from 2012 to 2016. Notably, Mehajer first came under fire in 2015 when he illegally closed down a street in Lidcombe for his wedding. He was later fined just $220 for shutting down the street without permission.

A motion to have Mehajer’s conduct investigated at the time was defeated by six votes to four.