Former reality television star Sam Wood will go to the Queensland supreme court seeking release from custody, more than two weeks after he was denied bail over allegations he choked and assaulted his wife.
Wood, a ۴۶-year-old wellness influencer from Melbourne, was arrested at Noosa on ۴ October on domestic violence allegations.
He was refused bail by a Queensland court after police detailed evidence about a similar incident from Victoria about three years ago and argued that his behaviour was “escalating”.
Wood is now seeking for the bail decision to be reviewed by the supreme court.
Under Queensland’s domestic violence laws, serious charges including “strangulation in a domestic setting” carry a presumption against bail.
Wood appeared in a Sunshine Coast court earlier this month charged with two domestic violence offences: assault occasioning bodily harm and strangulation in a domestic setting.
The court heard that his wife, Snezana, was supportive of the charges and that “there was a cessation of breath” as she was allegedly choked.
“She articulates the banging of her head on the floor. She couldn’t breathe,” police prosecutor Jeanette Grigoris said. “She thought she was going to die.”
In Wood’s first application for bail, lawyer Matthew Cuskelly said his client denied the allegations. He cited a psychologist’s report that said Sam Wood was suffering from “severe depression”.
“He ought to be given the opportunity to engage with mental health professionals,” Cuskelly said.
“And also try to salvage something of his professional reputation and career, which is taking a hell of a beating at the moment.
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“Ultimately, as all families have, there was problems. And my client had been enduring the hardship of attempting to quarantine those problems from his family for some period of time. It was agonising.”
Cuskelly cited a psychologist’s report that describes “the difficulty that my client has been enduring in respect of the deterioration of his psychological state”.
“His depression is regarded as extremely severe.”
Wood spent four days in the Maroochydore police watch house after his arrest. He was subsequently held in the high-security Wolston correctional centre near Brisbane.
It is understood the supreme court bail hearing won’t take place until next month, meaning Wood will spend at least a month in custody.
