Media boss Antony Catalano has been charged with assaulting a woman, with police alleging he dragged her through an apartment and swung a clothes iron at her head.
The woman suffered a fractured tailbone and was hospitalised on Friday after the alleged assault, the Melbourne Magistrates’ Court heard.
Mr Catalano, the co-owner and chairman of Australian Community Media (ACM), is facing charges of assault, false imprisonment and making threats to kill.
He was granted bail on Friday night after facing court via video link from a Melbourne police station.
The 59-year-old sat with his head in his hands during the bail hearing.
Magistrate Rohan Lawrence described the evidence in the case as “relatively strong” and said a jail term was possible if the charges were proved.
Mr Catalano was not required to enter a plea, given the early stage of the case.
An officer told the court Mr Catalano had been experiencing “recent mental health issues” and was admitted to a psychiatric ward four weeks ago after using drugs.
“It is believed approximately three days ago at his property in Byron Bay, the accused himself called police because he believed he was seeing people emerging from the woodworks around his property,” the officer testified.
Mr Catalano, known in media circles as “The Cat”, is a former journalist-turned-executive who rose through the ranks at Fairfax Media and once led property listings company Domain.
In 2019, he struck a $115 million deal to buy ACM, the publisher of major regional newspapers including the Canberra Times and Newcastle Herald.
Defence concedes Catalano made physical contact with woman
In a summary of police allegations read to the court, the officer said Mr Catalano dragged the woman through her apartment by the hair and ankles.
“The accused dragged the victim to the laundry area where he grabbed a clothes iron and held it towards the victim’s head, causing the victim to grab onto the iron herself,” the summary stated.
The police officer said the woman spent several hours in hospital afterwards and had suffered a fractured coccyx.
The woman also claimed Mr Catalano forcefully swung the iron at her head during the incident, the court heard. However Mr Catalano’s barrister Jason Gullaci SC said that allegation was not in the written police summary.
The Illawarra Mercury was one of the publications ACM bought in 2019. (ABC Illawarra: Justin Huntsdale)
Based on CCTV footage, Mr Gullaci said there was “no doubt” Mr Catalano made physical contact with the woman and that the aftermath of the incident “doesn’t look great”.
“There’s still a few moving parts about exactly what happened, how it started, how it moved out to the area where the CCTV footage is inside, how it then manifested in relation to what happened in that hallway,” he said.
On Friday, police called for Mr Catalano to be denied bail and remanded in custody, arguing he posed an unacceptable risk of further offending and fleeing Victoria.
But Mr Gullaci said his client, a father of nine, had a clean criminal record and “significant” property and business interests.
“He is one of the integral parts of all these businesses … he needs to make sure that they can run,” Mr Gullaci said.
Mr Catalano faced previous allegations of headbutting in 2018, the court heard, but charges were not laid due to insufficient evidence.
Magistrate Lawrence granted Mr Catalano’s release after the media boss agreed to a series of bail conditions.
The case was adjourned until May 11.