A neighbour has described how she grappled with the notorious Belinda Van Krevel in an ugly stoush involving a shared kebab.
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Van Krevel, who became a household name in 2001 after she was found guilty of soliciting her then-lover to kill her own father, has pleaded not guilty to assault charges stemming from the afternoon of June 11, when she was celebrating the arrest of her "abusive" ex-boyfriend with a friend and neighbour, Catherine Stanley-Smith.
In Wollongong Local Court on Monday Ms Stanley-Smith said she and Van Krevel went to Warrawong shops that afternoon to get alcohol and a kebab to "go halves in", before returning to Ms Stanley-Smith's Port Kembla unit about 4.30pm.
She said she could hear music coming out of Van Krevel's phone, indicating she had been put on hold, when Van Krevel's demeanor suddenly changed.
"I don't know exactly what happened on the phone ... but she started demanding; she said, 'give me my f---ing kebab you mutt'."
"I said, 'I don't want you here, I'll give you your half a kebab and you can go home'. I cut it in half and wrapped it and gave it to her.
"I said, 'I'm f---ing sick of your s---, I don't want to deal with you no more. F--- off out. That's when she's gotten angry."
"She screamed, 'yeah motherf---er', and she just gets this weird look on her face ... empty. Angry."
She told the court Van Krevel "barged" at her, pushing her back inside her unit, and that the two then grappled for control of the screen door.
She admitted she pushed Van Krevel, pulled her hair and grabbed her by the neck in a bid to get her to leave.
Ms Stanley-Smith, who admitted she smoked 20 cones daily, said Van Krevel at one point yelled that "I owe her. She wanted half a cone. I owe her money", but said "I actually don't know what the whole thing started over still. I've never borrowed money. I've never taken food or nothing off her".
She told the court Van Krevel started lobbing objects at her including statues and candle holders, after she called the police and both women waited for them to arrive. Van Krevel went on to "trash the joint", she said.
"I could hear her screaming and throwing stuff against the door. The half-a-kebab she smudged into the door. She threw cat food. There were cigarettes [from an upended ashtray] going all the way down to the second floor."
After more grappling, Van Krevel pushed her so she fell backwards, then started strangling her, Ms Stanley-Smith said.
"[Her hands were] around my throat ... At first I was just pissed off and when she started gripping tighter I started getting a bit more panicked.
"I was saying, 'take your f---king hands off me."
"She wouldn't release me so I brought both my legs up underneath and I just booted her in the gut."
She said Van Krevel landed several punches to the back of her head and "I threw two or three back". She said the assault left her with a torn ligament in her finger, bruising on her back and cuts to her face.
In court Van Krevel at times grew open-mouthed, making incredulous faces and noises as her former friend delivered the damning evidence.
Magistrate Janine Lacy initially declined the prosecutor's request to put an end to the "gasping, shaking her head and carrying on", but later admonished Van Krevel via her lawyer.
"If she's going to sit there ... she needs to do so in a way that doesn't draw attention to her or distract the witness."
Under cross-examination Ms Stanley-Smith denied suggestions she had been brandishing a knife when she confronted Van Krevel outside.
The hearing continues on March 18.