The deputy mayor of Auburn, in western Sydney, has been charged with intimidating the father of one of the hostages in the Lindt cafe siege.
Salim Mehajer, who came to national attention for his extravagant wedding earlier in the year, was accused by Bruce Herat of threatening to kidnap his children after Herat asked Mehajer to stop dropping weights at a gym.
Herat is the father of Joel Herat, one of 18 people taken hostage in the Lindt cafe by Man Haron Monis in the Sydney siege last year.
Mehajer denies the allegations.
Herat works at Anytime Fitness in Burwood as a personal trainer and approached Mehajer on 16 September and asked him to stop dropping weights.
Mehajer allegedly followed Herat to his car afterwards and asked him if he knew who Mehajer was.
According to Herat, Mehajer then said: “I’m going to take this further. I’m going to find out where you live and have your kids kidnapped.”
A spokeswoman for New South Wales police confirmed Mehajer was served with a future court attendance notice for the offence of intimidation and a personal violence order on Thursday and will appear at Burwood local court on 19 November.
Mehajer has been complaining about the police on his Facebook account, which has more than 8,000 followers.
In a post begun “dear commissioner” he says “those that are carrying the respected NSW police force badge are continuing to make a fool not only of themselves, but of our country”.
He then complains about his Mercedes being pulled over for a defect and him being told to walk home.
“I remind you, I’ll always use the negativity as more motivation to work even harder and become even stronger. The reason I never give up hope is because everything has become basically hopeless,” he ends the post.
