Former Neighbours star Madeleine West has won an appeal against a court order taken out to protect her celebrity chef ex-husband Shannon Bennett’s father from harassment.
The NSW District Court reheard the evidence that prompted a Byron Bay Local Court magistrate to make an apprehended domestic violence order protecting Benny Bennett from his former daughter-in-law in March and found several errors.
“By basing her decision on those erroneous findings Her Honour’s decision is wrong,” Judge Jonathan Priestley ruled on Thursday, dismissing the order and directing lawyers to prepare arguments on costs.
The magistrate found West was an evasive witness when giving evidence about the events of May 2022, when she “barged” onto her ex-husband’s property.
Priestley found the evidence showed she did not barge onto the property.
The magistrate found West “evasive” when questioned about her right to enter the property and thought she minimised her conduct captured on CCTV.
“With respect, that is wrong,” Priestley said.
“Her evidence does not seek to minimise her conduct but frankly acknowledges it for what it was.”
The older Bennett was perhaps acting out of loyalty, justified or otherwise, to his son.
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The judge viewed Bennett’s fear of harassment in the context of being frustratingly and distressingly caught in the middle of a dispute between his son and West, but found that fear insufficient.
Bennett and West had not seen each other for seven months and had interacted amicably the day before and the morning of the incident.
“The chances of all of the circumstances in which this whole unfortunate event occurred recurring are negligible, and there is no need for the order,” the judge said.
West starred on Neighbours from 2000 to 2003 and again from 2017 to 2020, appearing in more than 500 episodes.
She has also written books for children and on parenting.
Shannon Bennett was formerly the executive chef and founder of Melbourne fine-dining staple Vue de monde and has made many appearances as a guest chef and judge on MasterChef.
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