Australia’s Next Top Model star Didier Cohen back behind bars as court lifeline collapses

Australia’s Next Top Model star Didier Cohen is back behind bars and now faces the prospect of standing trial in the United States, where he could be jailed for up to eight years.

Just two months ago, the 41-year-old actor and DJ was granted a major reprieve after being charged with allegedly assaulting his father and stepmother, kidnapping them and making death threats against them. He pleaded not guilty to all charges.

Instead of proceeding to trial on the nine felony charges he faces, Los Angeles Judge Andrea Thompson gave him a slap on the wrist, approving Cohen for a cushy ‘mental health diversion program’.

All he had to do was stay out of trouble, keep off drugs and attend rehab for two years and his record would have been wiped clean, as if the terrible crimes he was charged with never happened.

However, Daily Mail has learned that Cohen blew it big time.

This week, he was arrested for allegedly ‘violating’ the diversion program and thrown back in the slammer.

His sweetheart diversion deal has been ‘revoked’ and he’ll be back in court in a month to face Judge Thompson – who’s not likely to be so lenient with him this time.

It’s not yet clear what led to the alleged breach of the diversion program. Neither prosecutors nor his lawyer, Charlie Unger, are giving details.

Deputy LA District Attorney Frederick Engell would only tell Daily Mail, ‘Mr. Cohen is in custody right now. He will be back in court on December 3 and his mental health diversion is suspended until then.’

Attorney Unger was equally tight-lipped about exactly what led to his client’s arrest this week, except to say that Cohen ‘struggled’ in the diversion program where he was only an outpatient, whereas he ‘did very well’ in a previous rehab stint where he was a live-in patient.

One thing appears certain, however. At his upcoming ‘diversion violation’ hearing, Cohen will face a much tougher time from Judge Thompson who issued a warrant for his arrest and kicked him out of the diversion program after he failed to show up at a progress hearing earlier this week.

The judge, who ordered Cohen back to jail until the hearing, will consider the circumstances surrounding the alleged breach.

If the diversion remains revoked, he could be ordered to stand trial on the original charges.

If convicted at trial, Cohen could face a prison sentence of up to eight years. 

American-born Cohen was arrested in June last year and charged with multiple offences that prosecutors alleged ‘involved great violence, great bodily harm, threats of great bodily harm, and other acts disclosing a high degree of cruelty, viciousness and callousness’. 

He was accused of breaking into the $4million Malibu home his 72-year-old father, David Cohen, shares with his stepmother, Avesta Saaty, 52, attacking his dad with a bottle, assaulting Saaty and kidnapping both of them.

Cohen – who was supposed to be providing elder care for his father – was also charged with threatening the lives of both Cohen Sr. and Saaty and vandalizing Saaty’s car. He pleaded not guilty to all charges.

Los Angeles prosecutors opposed diversion and urged Judge Thompson to send the matter to trial. 

But Cohen’s lawyer, Unger – who managed to get his client released on $300,000 bail after spending five months in jail – filed a motion claiming the troubled ex-model suffers from a ‘mental disorder.’

Instead of spending the next years behind bars, Unger argued, Cohen should be released to a supervised ‘mental health diversion program,’ which would allow him to live free so long as he complied with the program’s rules and conditions.

Prosecutors vehemently objected to the diversion, reminding Judge Thompson that ‘There were serious injuries to victims in this case.’

The judge ordered Cohen – who has a four-year-old daughter, Marigold, by his estranged partner, Chanel Wolf – to be examined by a psychiatrist and other mental health experts.

And in August, after talking to those experts, and the victims, Judge Thompson ruled in Cohen’s favor, decreeing that he is ‘eligible and suitable’ for a two-year mental health diversion, at the successful end of which, his criminal record would be expunged.

‘The defendant has been diagnosed with an eligible mental health disorder….and was diagnosed with or treated for the disorder within the last five years,’ said the judge in a written declaration.

‘The defendant’s mental disorder was a significant factor in the commission of the charged offense.

‘In the opinion of a qualified mental health expert, the defendant’s symptoms of the mental disorder causing, contributing to, or motivating the criminal behavior would respond to mental health treatment.

‘The defendant will not pose an unreasonable risk of danger to public safety if treated in the community.’

Noting that Cohen had already spent the previous eight months at a residential drug and mental health treatment facility, the judge ordered him to continue treatment as an outpatient at a similar rehabilitation hospital for the next two years. 

Judge Thompson also imposed several strict conditions, ordering that Cohen not possess weapons including guns or knives, not ‘annoy, harass or molest’ his father or Saaty and not use or sell illegal drugs or associate with drug users or dealers. 

She warned him that if he drops out of the program for any reason, stops taking his doctor-ordered medications or refuses to comply with random drug-testing during the two years, he’ll be brought back to court to face trial on the original charges.

Although Judge Thompson’s order this week states that Cohen’s ‘mental health diversion remains revoked’, Unger told Daily Mail the diversion had been ‘suspended not revoked’ and said he remained hopeful the judge would reinstate the program at the December 3 hearing and transfer the TV star to a residential treatment facility. 

Unger added, ‘The judge has given every indication that mental health diversion will continue in a residential facility since more residential work is needed as things have not worked out so far with non-residential treatment.’