Salim Mehajer has been pursued through a Westfield shopping centre and been photographed going to the dentist after walking free from prison after five years with a bulkier frame and a man bun.
The bankrupt property developer, disgraced former politician and one-time millionaire left the John Morony Correctional Centre in Windsor, 55km northwest of Sydney, on Friday morning.
The 39-year-old jumped in a blacked-out 2018 Mercedes S450 and left through the prison gates, but now faces a strict regime of reporting daily to his parole officer. He will live with his parents as he’s flat broke.
Camera crews began arriving at the prison at 4am to prepare for the colourful media personality’s release – more than a decade after his huge suburban wedding sparked national headlines.
Mehajer was followed by media to Service NSW at Westfield Parramatta, where he apparently renewed his licence, and later to a dental appointment.
Salim, the eldest of Amal and Mohamad Mehajer’s eight children, will be relying on his parents’ support if he follows through on his plan to rebuild his failed property empire.
The former Auburn council deputy mayor has been in prison since November 2020, when he was jailed for lying to a court, and has served back-to-back sentences for multiple offences.
The NSW State Parole Authority (SPA) decided last month to grant his release on conditions including that he undergo drug and alcohol testing, participate in domestic violence programs if directed, and not communicate with any outlaw motorcycle gang bikies or associates.
He is also banned from contacting his DV victim or entering the Central Coast.
Mehajer was declared bankrupt during a previous prison stint in 2018 when his property business, SM Project Developments, was liquidated.
Creditors included the n Taxation Office and the company which built the marble staircase at his former lavish home in Frances Street, Lidcombe.
He was locked up again in 2020 after he was found guilty of two counts of perverting the course of justice and one count of making a false statement under oath.
While behind bars in 2023, Mehajer was again convicted in separate trials for unrelated fraud and domestic violence offences.
A jury found Mehajer guilty of multiple counts of assault, one count of intimidation and one count of suffocation relating to his abuse of an ex-partner, and he was sentenced to a maximum of seven years and nine months in jail.
He was convicted of assaulting the victim by punching her in the head in his car, suffocating her with his hand over her nose and mouth until she passed out, crushing her hand as she held her phone and threatening to kill her mother.
At a further trial while he was in jail, he was found guilty by a jury of fraud on two counts each of making a false document and using a false document.
The jury convicted him of creating false statutory declarations and affidavits by forging the signatures of his solicitor, Zali Burrows, and one of his six sisters.
Mehajer overcame a raft of objections, including the risk of him reoffending, his refusal to change his attitude and his continued denial of some of his crimes.
In granting him a release, SPA said Mehajer had completed all possible programs in prison.
It determined his rehabilitation was better served in the community under the supervision of a psychologist and community corrections officers.
His parole conditions include being of good behaviour, and ongoing treatment from a private psychologist.
Mehajer first made headlines with his over-the-top wedding in 2015, when a reported $1million of gaudy excess closed off a Sydney street.
Mehajer and his young bride ‘Aysha’ – former Wollongong beautician April Learmonth – were married amid a procession of Harley Davidsons, rented Lamborghinis, a helicopter overhead, and a reception with 10,000 red roses and gold-dusted desserts.
The flashy party had been delayed until Mehajer’s father made his exit from prison, after being released early from a maximum three and half years’ sentence.
Mohamad Mehajer was convicted of conspiring to defraud the National Bank of more than $3million after attempting to bribe a bank employee to approve a loan that overstated the value of the family property company.
Salim’s marriage lasted a year. In 2016, Aysha took out a restraining order against him, and thereafter the attention-seeking fraudster became embroiled in legal and financial troubles.
Now it’s his dad’s turn to help his son, who he has previously described as ‘the brain’ and ‘the head’ of the family.