MAFS Australia’s Adrian has promised to share ‘receipts’ as he hit back at continued domestic violence allegations.
When filming for this year’s Married at First Sight Australia took place, amid all the anticipated drama, production encountered an unexpected hurdle when it was flagged to them that one of the show’s grooms, Adrian Araouzou, had previously faced domestic violence charges.
While Adrian did face court over three charges - assault occasioning actual bodily harm, domestic violence common assault and resisting police - he was found not guilty on all counts.
Despite this, the since disproven allegations have continued to linger on social media, and now Adrian has vowed to share “the truth” about what really happened.
In a recent TikTok video, Adrian expressed his plans to release videos addressing the continued allegations, as he captioned the post: “Videos will be out next week. The internet ran with a headline. The courtroom told a different story.”
Speaking in the video, Adrian told his followers: “I’m officially done. I’ve had so-called media, influencers with a platform and randoms online spread false and defamatory things about me.
“All you have seen is a statement from a police officer that arrived to the scene after a medical episode. I’m going to share the facts, evidence and the truth that was presented to the court to disprove any allegation against my name.
“I think these people were hoping I wasn’t going to speak up, I think these people were trying to make me scared not to speak up but now I’m going to say the truth and my story.”
In response, one commenter said: “I think ignoring it would be better, not one [sic] your side, not really against it, don't know enough about what happened only you and she does, but ngl we all watched you mentally drain Awhina, most are judging on that.”
However, Adrian explained his reasoning, as he said: “There’s a bigger message behind it is to why I have decided to talk about it.”
In another comment, the MAFS groom also suggested he was looking into taking legal action over some of the allegations.
The previous charges against Adrian were related to an incident which took place at Adrian’s shared home in 2020 with his then-partner, according to court documents. Police were reportedly called to the home after a witness heard screaming.
Just days after the incident, his then-partner signed a police statement stating that the injuries sustained were the result of a ‘seizure’, not an assault.
When the news of Adrian’s trial came to light while filming MAFS, production was reportedly brought to a halt and his partner at the time, Awhina Rutene, was driven to Channel Nine’s head offices.
After being informed of the former allegations, she was asked if she had ever felt unsafe with Adrian, to which she reportedly said no and agreed to continue the experiment.
A statement issued through Adrian's lawyer last year said: "Any suggestion of physical assault is categorically denied. I had my day in court, I was found not guilty and the application for an AVO was dismissed. Any allegation otherwise is completely baseless and highly defamatory.”
