Saturday 13 August 2022 05:19 PM Dramatic moment shirtless and 'drunk' bank executive arrested for choking woman ... trends now
A high-flying Commonwealth bank executive was dramatically arrested while shirtless, bloodied and intoxicated after allegedly assaulting his wife and choking her cousin, a court has heard.
Police statements tendered to Sydney's Manly Local Court describe the moment Rohan Ritchie was handcuffed as he protested 'this is unf***ing believable' and repeatedly asked, 'are you for real?' at his home on the city's northern beaches.
A police constable - one of four officers called to Ritchie's property after midnight on May 14 last year to investigate 'a possible strangulation' - replied: 'Yes, Rohan, unfortunately we are.'
A senior constable instructed her fellow officer to allow Ritchie to be cuffed with his hands to the front rather than behind his back as another officer stepped in to search him while a police helicopter hovered above.
After saying, 'yeah, go for it,' Ritchie then said. 'This is bulls**t. This is f***ing bulls**t. Oh my God this is bulls**t, I'll tell you what.'
He then said twice 'I'm f***ing cold' and demanded a shirt before being taken in a caged truck to Manly Police Station - where he would be charged and spend a night in the cells as he sobered up.
Rohan Ritchie has been charged with assaulting his wife of 16 years Trudi (above the couple together) after police and a Polair helicopter were called to their house at midnight
Police found the Commonwealth bank Executive Manager of Everyday Banking shirtless and locked out in his backyard and when they tried to handcuff him he protested 'this is unf***ing believable'
Ritchie, who manages the Commonwealth Bank's Everyday accounts and Retail FX, has previously been the face of the bank for counselling consumers about Father's Day and Christmas spending.
More recently, he publicly advised bank customers about using digital wallets rather than credit cards amid the decline of cash transactions during the Covid pandemic.
Ritchie's wife of 16 years and mother of his two children, Trudi Ritchie, is a qualified paramedical beauty therapist and consultant who runs her own business network promoting a vegan skincare brand.
In Instagram posts before and since the alleged assaults, Ms Ritchie calls her husband 'Bubba', my 'hot hubby' and writes that 'true love stories never have endings - there is only one happiness in life, to love and be loved'.
Mr Ritchie has been charged with two counts of assault occasioning actual bodily harm, one count each of common assault against his wife and her cousin, and one count of intentionally choke person without consent.
Court documents include a letter from Ritchie's solicitor entering pleas of not guilty to all five charges - and an indication he denied the assault allegations during a police interview.
Trudi Ritchie and her husband, Commbank executive Rohan Ritchie, were interviewed by police at their Northern Beaches home in May last year, nine days after their 15th wedding anniversary
Police found Commbank exec Rohan Ritchie shirtless and 'intoxicated' in the back yard of his Bilgola Plateau house (above, in 2018 after its build) with blood and smashed glass inside
Polair directed four officers to the Ritchies' (left) home around midnight after an alleged 'possible strangulation' by the Commonwealth Bank's Executive Manager of Everyday Accounts and Retail FX
Ritchie's barrister was unsuccessful in a bid to withdraw a paramedics' report in which Ms Ritchie 'stated her husband has a temper and when he drinks alcohol and is stressed ... has [allegedly] physically assaulted' in the past.
The court heard Ms Ritchie 'expressly disavowed' in a statement to police last December that her husband had ever assaulted her, or had been violent towards her, The Australian reported,
In accounts by police and Ritchie's teenage son seen by Daily Mail Australia, the scene inside the home on the night in question included 'blood spatter ... and a large amount of smashed glass' after alcohol consumption had begun in the afternoon.
When called to the house at 11.55pm to investigate the alleged assaults, officers wearing bodycam were directed by Polair 9 helicopter overhead to 'a male sitting on ... a lounge on the deck at the rear of the property'.
One officer observed Ritchie was 'wearing shorts, no
