A socialite is challenging a string of convictions for offences including refusing a breath test after ploughing her Range Rover into multiple parked cars in Sydney’s east.
Vanessa Jacobs Fennell was pulled from her badly damaged SUV by concerned onlookers following the crash at Bellevue Hill on March 21.
The 54-year-old refused a breath test and slapped a police officer as she was led away from the scene.
Jacobs Fennell, who was previously shortlisted to appear on a series of Real Housewives of Sydney, had been at a lunch in Double Bay hours earlier.
She spent the night at Waverley police station and later pleaded guilty to negligent driving, assaulting police, refusing to submit to a breath test and failing to give her particulars.
Jacobs Fennell sought to have the charges dealt with under mental health provisions of the law in what is known as a Section 14 application but that request was rejected in Waverley Local Court last month.
Instead, magistrate Kirk Dailly convicted Jacobs Fennell of refusing to submit to breath analysis and fined her $1,200.
He also convicted and fined her $500 for negligent driving with an additional conviction and $800 fine for failing to provide particulars after the crash.
Socialite Vanessa Jacobs Fennell (above) is challenging a string of convictions for offences including refusing a breath test after ploughing her Range Rover into multiple parked cars in Sydney ‘s east
Vanessa Jacobs Fennell (above, outside court) was pulled from her badly damaged SUV by concerned onlookers following the crash at Bellevue Hill on March 21
Mr Dailly did not record a conviction for the offence of assaulting police but sentenced Jacobs Fennell to a 12-month conditional release order.
She was also disqualified from driving for six months.
Jacobs Fennell has now lodged an appeal against all those outcomes which will be heard in Downing Centre District Court later this month.
The mother-of-two previously told Daily Mail she was ‘profoundly remorseful and regretful’ but said she ‘remained dignified’ after the original court result.
Jacobs Fennell also said that ‘every human being should be allowed to make a mistake’.
The side of her black Range Rover was severely damaged in the incident which also left a mark on a Tesla and two other vehicles she hit.
Jacobs Fennell had been escorted from the scene by police and, at one point, appeared to try to wrest her arm free of an officer’s grip before slapping him.
The court heard Jacobs Fennell had faced considerable stresses towards the end of last year and ‘had experienced dissociation’.
Jacobs Fennell is pictured being escorted by police from the scene. She assaulted one of the police officers during the arrest by slapping them, before spending the night in custody
Jacobs Fennell is understood to have previously suffered the deaths of two children and also underwent a sudden break-up some time before the crash.
Her legal team also claimed she had been prescribed antidepressants only three days before the incident, which contributed to ‘increased intoxication’ and other adverse reactions.
Jacobs Fennell was usually careful to avoid drink-driving but had become confused as a result of the medication, her lawyer told the court.
‘She goes out to lunch, has alcoholic drinks, which is something she’s done before,’ the lawyer said.
‘But she then gets in a car, which is something she’s never done before.
‘[That] leads to egregious decision-making which is… highly uncharacteristic for this woman.’
Formerly married to private equity banker Tom Fennell, Jacobs Fennell is regularly photographed at exclusive events across Sydney including charity functions.
Earlier this year she split with prominent Melbourne businessman Nathan Sable.
