The well-heeled suburb of Bellevue Hill is an unlikely location for a scuffle with police.
So when 54-year-old socialite Vanessa Jacobs Fennell was filmed being arrested by uniformed officers over there last week, it certainly had the in-crowd talking.
Footage of the charity maven being frogmarched away by cops in front of stunned diners was captured after she allegedly smashed her black Range Rover Sport into a parked Tesla at 7pm on Friday.
Her car reportedly had scratch marks, dents and shredded tyres. An onlooker was quoted by a Sydney newspaper as saying she’d been ‘doing laps’ around the area.
Jacobs Fennell, a mother of two, was charged with assaulting a police officer and refusing a breath test. She would later claim she suffered a panic attack and was injured during her arrest.
The incident has become a cause célèbre in the eastern suburbs, with high society housewives taking a rare break from Instagram to watch her arrest footage lead the nightly news bulletins over the weekend.
Sydney socialite Vanessa Jacobs Fennell is seen on the balcony of her oceanside home in Tamarama on Monday
At about midday, a shattered Jacobs Fennell was briefly spied on the balcony. She looked strained during a phone call and quickly retreated inside
Of particular interest was one moment during the arrest when, as she was escorted to a police van, she appeared to break free and slap an officer on the arm.
‘Everyone was texting each other about it,’ one socialite tells me.
‘It was crazy to see her being frogmarched by police because she’s such a big deal in the east. We were like, “What the hell is going on?”‘
On Monday, Jacobs Fennell was seen bunkering down at her oceanside home in Tamarama, where she lives in a five-bedroom mansion that last sold in 2014 for $5.5million and is now believed to worth twice that amount.
Inside, she was tearfully telling friends how she was planning to fly to Hong Kong in the wake of her arrest. Whether she actually makes it overseas remains to be seen.
Besides the phalanx of news trucks and photographers camped outside the home, the only activity on Monday morning was a young man, confirmed to be an employee of the Jacobs Fennell household, who arrived to pick up her son for school.
After the school run, the man was later seen returning with groceries.
At about midday, a shattered Jacobs Fennell was briefly spied on the balcony. She looked strained during a phone call and quickly retreated inside.
The only other activity on Monday morning was a young man, confirmed to be an employee of the Jacobs Fennell household, who arrived to pick up her son for school
The man was seen collecting Jacobs Fennell’s son, who wore cadet clothes
After the school run, the man was later seen returning with groceries from Coles
Friends tell me the alleged incident in Bellevue Hill was ‘out of character’ for a woman known for spending her days fundraising and helping others.
The reason for her allegedly erratic behaviour, I am told, was her recent break-up with prominent Melbourne businessman Nathan Sable.
The two are believed to have been a couple until a few weeks before Valentine’s Day when things suddenly cooled.
‘They met at a charity function. He was charming,’ a source with knowledge of the relationship tells me.
‘She let her guard down and he ended it. The whole thing left her spiralling because she wanted answers.’
Before dating Sable, Ms Jacobs Fennell was married to private equity banker Tom Fennell, who coincidentally lives a stone’s throw away from Friday’s crash site.
The reason for Jacobs Fennell’s allegedly erratic behaviour, I am told, was her recent break-up with prominent Melbourne businessman Nathan Sable (pictured)
Jacobs Fennell was arrested after her Range Rover allegedly swiped a parked Tesla on Friday
The socialite was apparently once on a shortlist for a season of Real Housewives of Sydney
Jacobs Fennell last made headlines in 2021 when she took action against a ‘pushy’ McGrath real estate agent who was pestering her to put her Tamarama home on the market
According to bystanders, Jacobs Fennell was waving away enraged diners who had rushed to the corner of Riddell St and Bellevue Rd to try to pull her out of the car.
She was taken to Waverley Police Station where she was charged with refusal to submit to breath analysis, assault police in execution of duty and not give particulars to the owner of the damaged property.
She was expected to face Parramatta bail court on Sunday but police instead released her early on bail on Saturday evening. She will face court again next month.
Jacobs Fennell was described as ‘a charity fundraiser who has been on committees for Sydney Children’s Hospital and Murdoch Children’s Research Institute’.
However, I am reliably told she won’t be attending the upcoming Silver Party, which raises funds for the Sydney Children’s Hospital Foundation.
Jacobs Fennell, who was apparently once on the shortlist to appear on The Real Housewives of Sydney, last made headlines in 2021 when she took action against a ‘pushy’ real estate agent.
She lodged a complaint with NSW Fair Trading over allegedly aggressive tactics from a ‘pushy’ McGrath realtor who was trying to convince her to sell multimillion-dollar Tamarama home.
The agent had allegedly caused her ‘enormous stress’ for 14 months by repeatedly approaching her with offers, despite her house not being on the market.
