Socialite and longtime mistress of billionaire cardboard king Richard Pratt fights conviction for 'biting a police officer after a boozy lunch'
- Socialite Shari-Lea Hitchcock was found guilty of biting police officer last year
- The 50-year old is appealing her conviction, arguing accounts were inconsistent
- Hitchcock was longtime mistress of late billionaire cardboard king Richard Pratt
The longtime mistress of late billionaire cardboard king Richard Pratt is fighting her conviction after she was found guilty of drunkenly biting a police officer.
Sydney socialite Shari-Lea Hitchcock, 50, was handed a two-year good behaviour bond in July last year after she tried to resist arrest and allegedly attacked a police officer and a woman who tried to help her.
The 50-year-old has appeared in the Sydney District Court this week to appeal the conviction.
Sydney socialite Shari-Lea Hitchcock, 50, (pictured) was handed a two-year good behaviour bond in July last year after she tried to resist arrest and allegedly attacked a police officer and a woman who tried to help her
She was represented by barrister Daniel McMahon, who argued accounts of the 2016 incident were inconsistent, news.com.au reported.
Hitchcock, who has a child with Mr Pratt, had been spotted 'hanging onto a rail on Oxford Street' by a Jan Hanswell, a bystander who attempted to help her get off the road on the day of the incident.
The former model had come form a long lunch with other socialites and was stumbling as she tried to make her way home.
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Police were called, but Hitchcock refused to leave, shouting: 'I'm not f***ing going anywhere'.
She allegedly attempted to kick Ms Hanswell as she bent down to pick up a hairbrush and sunglasses, which had fallen from her bag.
Hitchcock later allegedly attempted to kick police officers and then bit a female officer twice on her left knee.
Hitchcock was the long-time mistress of Australian billionaire Richard Pratt (pictured together) who died from prostate cancer in 2009
She was arrested and charged with common assault, assault police and resisting an officer in the execution of duty.
Mr McMahon had attempted to discredit Ms Hanswell's testimony during the hearing last year.
He also argued the police evidence was inconsistent, but Magistrate Jennifer Atkinson found her guilty.
During her appeal this week before District Court Judge Garry Neilson, Mr McMahon again argued that police accounts were inconsistent and questioned Ms Hanswell's reliability as a witness.
He said the widow was 'prone to exaggeration and hyperbole'.
He also said she had a tendency for 'colourful or loose language'.
His client had been 'calm and non-aggressive' at the scene, he said.
The appeal is ongoing and will be heard in a NSW District Court on Friday.
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