A FORMER Scotland rugby star accused of assaulting his estranged wife had his assets frozen and was questioned over allegations he stole £250,000 from her bank account, a court has heard.
Simon Danielli, 37, who won 32 caps for the national team and played for clubs Borders and Ulster, is accused of assaulting Olivia Danielli, 29, and a man he allegedly suspected she was having an affair with in March 2015.
The Edinburgh-born retired player is claimed to have chased Michael Browne in a street in Northern Ireland, where he now lives before launching a series of kicks and punches on him as he lay curled up.
He is also alleged, Newtownards Magistrates’ Court heard yesterday, to have shoved Mrs Danielli to the ground twice and smashed her iPhone.
Mrs Danielli said the couple were married in 2009 but separated in September 2014, six months before the incident.
Under cross-examination, Mrs Danielli, the daughter of a millionaire businessman, denied she had fabricated the claims against a man her father, property developer Shamus Jennings, “said he would destroy”.
Mark Mulholland, QC, defending Mr Danielli, told her since she made the allegations, her husband’s assets have been unfrozen and “the police have said he is no longer a suspect”.
He pointed out her family have so far employed “three sets of solicitors, three QCs and two junior counsel in several different actions” against the defendant Mr Danielli, of Holywood, County Down, including parallel court proceedings, non-molestation orders and an industrial tribunal.
He further revealed the latest allegations of him stealing the large amount of cash from her bank account saw the High Court freeze Mr Danielli’s assets, his home searched by police on foot of a warrant and him questioned by police.
He suggested to Mrs Danielli it was “all a fabrication”.
But the mother-of-three said as far as she was concerned “that case isn’t closed yet” and she was waiting news from a prosecuting lawyer who was off for a month.
Mr Mulholland replied “you may be in for an unpleasant surprise” when that lawyer returns to work.
Former rugby player Mr Danielli, 37, is on trial accused of assaulting Mrs Danielli and her friend Mr Browne as well as damaging his wife’s mobile phone on March 11, 2015.
Mrs Danielli testified about the alleged assaults but also that afterwards when she got home, her estranged husband was ripping wires and bugging devices from the walls of what had been the marital home.
She denied defence suggestions she was “over-egging” her evidence about what had actually happened to her and Mr Browne. and that inconsistencies between her evidence, her police statements and other legal documents indicate she is “making it up.”
The lawyer said in other court proceedings, when she had applied for a non-molestation order against Mr Danielli, she claimed her hair had been pulled with such force her extensions had been pulled out and that she saw him “standing” on Mr Browne’s head, neither of which she later mentioned.
The case continues.
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