A senior Maytronics Australia executive facing assault charges in Melbourne and Sydney has had an application to suppress material relating to the case rejected by a magistrates’ court.
Chris Papageorgiou, a father of two who has been described as a leading figure in the swimming pool industry, appeared at Moorabbin Magistrates’ Court on Thursday charged with two counts of assault.
His lawyer had sought an order preventing case-related material from being released to the media. The application was refused after the court found it had no basis.
The matter was listed after an alert was sent to reporters on Wednesday afternoon. During the hearing, it was noted that anyone seeking a suppression order in a Victorian court must generally give three days’ notice, allowing journalists the opportunity to respond and oppose the application.
The alleged incidents themselves were not discussed in detail because the hearing focused on the suppression request.
Papageorgiou’s former partner, who has not been named, said the pair first met as teenagers and dated for two years during their final years at school before losing contact.
“He was my first love – my first everything,” she said.
The couple reconnected in 2020 after Papageorgiou’s divorce, having met unexpectedly at a Melbourne café, and later began a serious relationship.
He is also alleged to have assaulted the woman during a stay at Q Station, the former North Head Quarantine Station near Manly in Sydney, in November last year. Papageorgiou is due to appear in person at Manly court next week over one assault charge.
The relationship is said to have ended in March this year outside Papageorgiou’s home in Bentleigh East, in Melbourne’s south-east. He was subsequently charged with unlawful assault in connection with the alleged incident there.
The woman has also alleged that Papageorgiou went to Mykonos Restaurant in Oakleigh in April in an attempt to find her. She said she asked him to leave and that he initially did so, but returned about a minute later.
Papageorgiou was co-chief executive of Maytronics Australia, which manufactures robotic swimming pool cleaners and vacuum systems. It is understood he has been stood down pending an investigation into “allegations that have not yet been particularised”, and that the decision was unrelated to the assault charges.
He did not respond to a request for comment and is due to return to court at a later date.
