Millionaire pub baron who threw a cigarette lighter at his socialite ex-girlfriend after she found a sex tape of him and another woman asks to do one hour of community service a week instead of jail
- Phillip Jonathon De Angelis, 37, is begging for more lenient sentence on Tuesday
- De Angelis pleaded guilty to a series of assault charges towards ex-girlfriend
- His lawyer argued that his client should do community service every week
- Court previously heard that incident left her on the floor, lying in a pool of blood
- De Angelis will be sentenced on January 30
A millionaire pub baron who threw a cigarette lighter at his socialite ex-girlfriend and punched her in the mouth has asked for a more lenient sentence.
Phillip De Angelis, the youngest member of a hotel-owning family, last year pleaded guilty to five 'cowardly' domestic violence-related charges.
In one incident, he left his ex-girlfriend Janelle 'Nellie' Tilley, 53, crying in a pool of blood on the floor after he threw a cigarette lighter at her in 2016.
He punched her in the mouth on another occasion and battered a bathroom door in a bid to get her after she discovered a sex tape with another woman on his phone.
The 38-year-old faced Sydney's Downing Centre Local Court on Tuesday, where his lawyer argued against a home detention sentence, the Sydney Morning Herald reported.
Pub baron Phillip Jonathon De Angelis (above) was heavily reliant on drugs and alcohol before he admitted himself to a $10,000-a-week Thailand rehab clinic frequented by celebrities, a court has heard
De Angelis, 37, faced Central Local Court on Friday to be sentenced over a series of assault charges from his romance with socialite ex-girlfriend Janelle 'Nellie' Tilley (pictured), 53
Phillip Boulten SC asked if De Angelis could do community service for one day a week over the next 18 months, which would allow him to continue working fulltime.
The commitment would equal to 400 hours of service, Mr Boulten argued.
The court also heard that De Angelis was willing to participate in a 'very intensive form of his own medical supervision' as well as abstaining from drugs or alcohol, according to the Daily Telegraph.
During De Angelis's hearing last year, Mr Boulten said his client accepted that his behaviour was violent and was as a result of drugs and alcohol.
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De Angelis (left) and Ms Tilley (right) were in a relationship from late-2015 through to early-2017
!['He accepts he was the violent offender... [and] he accepts the offending occurred in a context of his dysfunction,' Mr Boulten told the court](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2018/11/30/06/6828028-6445517-image-m-16_1543560685081.jpg)
![The court also heard De Angelis was previously charged with deal and supply cocaine, but no conviction was recorded '[because] it was certainly not a commercial level'](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2018/11/30/06/6828032-6445517-image-m-18_1543560700835.jpg)
'He accepts he was the violent offender... [and] he accepts the offending occurred in a context of his dysfunction, drinking too much [and] using illegal drugs,' Mr Boulten said of De Angelis' behaviour in a hearing late last year
'He accepts he was the violent offender... [and] he accepts the offending occurred in a context of his dysfunction, drinking too much [and] using illegal drugs,' Mr Boulten said.
'The offender has accepted that what he did was seriously wrong. His response to his own misconduct has been thorough.'
The lawyer said De Andelis had made attempts to get rehabilitate.
'He completed eight weeks at The Cabin in Thailand,' he said. 'It is an intensive course he went through, a very thorough process and he did extremely well.'
In a bid to overcome his drug and alcohol addiction, De Angelis spent eight weeks at The Cabin in Thailand (pictured) - a $10,000-a-night rehabilitaion facility popular with celebrities
Surrounded by his parents Arch and Robyn, and brothers Peter and Marc, De Angelis sat quietly in the court as Mr Boulten submitted why his client should avoid jail time.
In an effort to explain what led De Angelis to often act out violently towards Ms Tilley, Mr Boulten told the court there was 'something different' about the pair's romance.
He claimed that while his client had a long history of drug and alcohol abuse, there was no track record of violent relationships to that point.
Mr Boulten told the court that on three separate occasions in the past his client had been charged with having alcohol in his system while driving.
He also revealed De Angelis was previously charged with deal and supply cocaine, but no conviction was recorded '[because] it was certainly not a commercial level'.
The pair were in an 18-month relationship before De Angelis was charged with assaulting Ms Tilley and an AVO was taken out against him
'Seeing his (De Angelis') enraged face is one thing I'll never forget. I don't even remember seeing the lighter come flying at me,' Ms Tilley (right) said of the night he threw the lighter
The court heard the millionaire had drunk heavily and regularly during his 18-month relationship with Ms Tilley.
Social media photos of the pair from the time show them living it up on a European holiday, drinking by the pool and island hopping throughout Greece.
But while the portrayed the perfect lifestyle, behind the scenes the pair's relationship was often completely different.
Ms Tilley tearfully told the court last year about her ex-boyfriend's 'enraged face' when he threw a cigarette lighter at her on the night of September 14, 2016.
'That night I experienced unwanted violence from a man whose anger and violence was unpredictable, fast and terrifying,' Ms Tilley said.
'Seeing his enraged face is one thing I'll never forget. I don't even remember seeing the lighter come flying at me.'
The impact of the cigarette lighter hitting Ms Tilley caused her to bleed heavily and left her with a permanent scar above her right eye.
In happier times, De Angelis and Tilley pose for a photo together while on holiday in Positano
Phillip Boulten SC (right), who was representing De Angelis (left), told the court in the wake of his split with Ms Tilley his client did 'an enormous amount to address his problems'
The court heard in a separate incident after a night out at a restaurant, De Angelis hit Ms Tilley in the mouth before forcefully pushing her head into a taxi seat.
In his submissions to the court, Mr Boulten agreed the cigarette lighter incident was a mid-range offence but claimed an intensive corrections order was the appropriate sentence for De Angelis.
'I can't ever remember having a case where the weapon was a Bic cigarette lighter,' Mr Boulten said.
'His immediate response was to do what he could… he was the one that took her to the doctor, stayed with her at the hospital, he was the one that took her home.
'He paid the medical costs and he truly does feel very ashamed for what happened.'
Mr Boulten submitted his client had thrown the cigarette lighter in a 'flinging' action and 'certainly not with a measured [amount of] force'.
But having inspected the permanent scar above Ms Tilley's eye just a few weeks prior, Magistrate Stewart disagreed.
'It's not a mere breaking of the skin. If it's a Bic lighter, I would draw an inference there was a fair bit of force involved,' he said.
'I have to also consider the injury to Ms Tilley, the nature of the injury and ongoing trouble. There is a clear and visible mark on her forehead.'
De Angelis will be sentenced on Wednesday.
De Angelis was supported in court by his parents Arch and Robyn (left) and other family
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