Neighbours star Madeleine West has shared a post describing herself as ‘grace under fire’, just hours after weeping in court and stonily denying she pushed her 75-year-old father in law at celebrity chef Shannon Bennett’s mansion.
The post went up on West’s Instagram page on Tuesday night following her court appearance and cross examination about an incident at her MasterChef guest judge ex’s Byron Bay house.
West posted a reference to her busy life as a mother of six next to a black-and-white photograph of herself in which she is made up and dressed in black.
In the post she wrote, ‘Did I remember to…. defrost the chicken fillets?…Pack the swimming bag?…Bring the sheets in off the line?…Sign the excursion form?…Finish the submission?…RSVP in time?…Smell the roses?…Have that coffee with my Bestie?…Tell them I love them?…Stretch?…Eat?…BREATHE??????’
She then wrote ‘this is grace under fire’, perhaps a reference to the Winston Churchill wartime quote that ‘courage is grace under fire’.
Madeleine West’s Instagram post just hours after she was cross-examine in the witness box at Byron Bay court about pushing her elderly father in law at chef Shannon Bennett’s estate
The post went up around 8pm on Tuesday after the TV star left the witness box and copped a grilling by a police prosecutor over an apprehended violence order police had taken out to protect Benny Clifton Bennett on May 4 last year.
Mr Bennett, who is the grandfather of West’s six children with his son Shannon, alleges she pushed him when visiting the chef’s compound, that he is in fear of the actress and needs protection.
West, who was in tears at times during the hearing, denied the accusations in Byron Bay Local Court on Tuesday, telling the court she ‘didn’t lay a hand’ on her ex-partner’s dad.
Shannon Bennett and West were together for 13 years before their split in 2018 and last year he revealed that their six children primarily live with him at his Byron estate.
West moved up from Melbourne in 2020, buying a house in nearby Suffolk Park last year.
The court heard that in the wake of the alleged incident, Mr Bennett said, ‘I can’t put up with what she does’, referring to West’s behaviour around his grandchildren.
The court was also shown CCTV videos of West and Mr Bennett at the estate at Byron Bay while the MasterChef star was in the US.
Ex Neighbours star Madeleine West (above on Monday) spent tie in the witness box on Tuesday being cross-examined by police about CCTV of her arriving at her ex Shannon Bennett’s mansion last year and encountering his dad
Sergeant Val Short said the vision showed West arriving at the multimillion-dollar home and hiding to lure Mr Bennett to the door before pushing him and forcing her way inside.
In the footage, West could be seen arriving in a bright blue shirt and white shorts before a confrontation, after which she is seen leaving with a child.
In one video, West appears to be engaged in an animated conversation at the entrance to the home, before putting her hand on the front door.
West denied she had hidden from the door camera and told Sgt Short she had ‘stood back so I wouldn’t appear intimidating’.
But under a barrage of questions from the prosecution, the ex-television star agreed she was not welcome at the home that day.
‘Mr Bennett only opened that door to a certain degree to talk to you, he doesn’t open it to invite you in. He keeps you at bay,’ Sgt Short put to West in court.
West interjected by saying: ‘I didn’t lay a hand on him and I didn’t… use force, I’m a very slender person.’
Madeleine West leaves court after a grilling by police prosecutors over allegations she pushed her father in law Benny Bennett, 75, leaving him afraid and unwilling to risk future encounters with the Neighbours star
Madeleine West will learn next week if a two year AVO is confirmed for police against her on behalf of her ex Shannon Bennett’s father
Told by Sgt Short that she did not answer the question, West conceded: ‘He did not invite me in.’
Sgt Short told West the CCTV footage showed a child ‘almost running’ beside her.
‘You have hold of her arm… you’re almost propelling her with you,’ the prosecutor said.
West replied: ‘I was not forcing her.’
After the alleged incident in May last year, the court heard that Mr Bennett said he would no longer make such visits.
‘I won’t do it any more , I’ll just tell my my son, at my age, it’s very stressful,’ the court heard he said.
Benny Clifton Bennett, 75, ‘can’t put up with what Madeleine West does’ according to court documents about an alleged incident between her and him at Shannon Bennett’s home in Byron last year
Madeleine Bennett (above with her celebrity chef ex) is fighting police claims she pushed Shannon Bennett’s father at the Masterchef judge’s Byron Bay estate in May last year
‘I don’t want to put the kids through anything. It affects them. I’ll only go up when Shannon is there. I can’t be the meat in the middle.’
However, lawyers for West denied Mr Bennett was fearful of her and argued he was unable to care for young children.
‘Here’s… a 73-year-old man, can’t hear well and his mobility is slow,’ a defence lawyer said.
The court was told that West did not intend to be ‘confrontational’, with her lawyers arguing the CCTV footage ‘shows clearly’ that West did not push past Mr Bennett.
The prosecution is seeking a two-year domestic violence order against West.
The court heard that, although West’s father-in-law lives in Victoria, he regularly visits his grandchildren at Shannon Bennett’s home in Byron Bay.
The hearing was held they day after West was photographed taking a swim at Bangalow, in the Byron Bay hinterland, and covering herself in ‘healing’ mud.
Ex Neighbours star Madeleine West at Bexhill quarry on Monday afternoon where she had a swim and then covered herself in ‘healing’ mud at the reserve
The model and actress spent up to two hours at the disused quarry in the Byron hinterland on Monday ahead of her court hearing into allegations she pushed her gather in law making him fearful
The hearing was held they day after West was photographed taking a swim at Bangalow, in the Byron Bay hinterland, and covering herself in ‘healing’ mud.
She later posted a photo of herself with a muddy décolletage on social media with the caption ‘Is there anything more healing than a little ol’ fashioned silliness? #mud’.
The model turned activist turned up at the swimming hole mid-afternoon wearing a denim mini-dress with a group of children.
Magistrate Karen Stafford adjourned the hearing and will deliver her decision on whether to grant the two year AVO next week.
