Aides working for Nigella Lawson would 'not want to cross' Charles Saatchi who would shout at the assistants and had a temper, a court has heard.Two of the PAs, who still work for Miss Lawson and refer to themselves as 'Team Cupcake', were questioned over whether they were 'nervous' of Mr Saatchi and asked if they had cried when he shouted at them.
The line of questioning comes after Miss Lawson, who gave evidence last week at the trial of former assistants Francesca and Elisabetta Grillo, told how she was 'inflicted with a long summer of bullying' by her former husband. The Grillo sisters are standing trial at Isleworth Crown accused of swindling £685,000 from the couple.
They allegedly used the cash to splash out on designer clothes and posh hotel stays around the world without permission.
Taking to the stand for cross-examination, Miss Lawson's PA Zoe Wales told the court that the assistants would not want to challenge Mr Saatchi.
Anthony Metzer, defending Lisa Grillo, put it to Ms Wales that 'Mr Saatchi is somebody people would not want to go against. Would not want to challenge or disobey'.
Ms Wales replied: 'One would always want to do what one had been asked.'
Pressed on the point she added: 'Mr Saatchi could have a temper, yes.'
Earlier in the day it had been put to Anzelle Wasserman, another of Nigella's PAs, that she had been reduced to tears when Mr Saatchi shouted at her and was 'nervous' of him.
'A LONG SUMMER OF BULLYING': NIGELLA LAWSON ON EX-HUSBAND CHARLES SAATCHI'S TEMPER
Giving evidence at the trial last week, Nigella Lawson said her ex-husband Charles Saatchi had shouted and sworn at her during their marriage.
She told the court Mr Saatchi had threatened to 'destroy' her with drug taking allegations, and accused him of inflicting 'a long summer of bullying and abuse' on her after their high-profile divorce.
The couple split after photos emerged which appeared to show him throttling her outside Scott's restaurant in Mayfair, central London.
She told the jury at Isleworth Crown Court that Mr Saatchi shouted and swore at her - and added that no one 'can be in any doubt' he has a temper.
Miss Lawson also told the court that Mr Saatchi 'punished' her on one occasion for going to a friend's party.
She was asked by Anthony Metzer QC, representing Elisabetta, about Mr Saatchi's email to her which contained drug-taking allegations.
It said she was seeking a 'pass' so she could do what she wanted.
Miss Lawson said: 'I had once made reference to a "pass" because I had been punished for going to a girlfriend's birthday.'
She said she had not been beaten, but was left with 'emotional scars', which were 'very wounding and very difficult and of course we know how things accelerated'.
She described the allegations of her drug use in the email as being 'part of his plan of attack', and said she thought it was 'very odd' that he knew what was in the witness statements before they were published.
Miss Lawson said she was not a 'habitual drug user and drug addict, or a snorter of cocaine for 10 years'.
Mr Metzer asked if Mr Saatchi was patriarchal and traditional, and Miss Lawson said he 'didn't like to take part in family life'.
He also asked whether Miss Lawson 'confided' in Lisa about Mr Saatchi's temper.
'Yes,' she replied.
Mr Saatchi told the jury last month that he was 'heart-broken' following his divorce from Miss Lawson and added that he still 'adores' his ex-wife.
Giving evidence he looked exasperated as the now infamous incident outside Scott's restaurant in Mayfair, central London, where he was photographed holding Miss Lawson by the throat, was brought up at least twice during cross-examination.
Anthony Metzer QC, representing Elisabetta, asked whether it was during an argument about her taking drugs.
'I accepted a caution for assault,' he said.
'I was not gripping, strangling or throttling her. I was holding her head by the neck to make her focus, can we be clear?
'Was it about her drug use? No.'
But she denied the claims saying 'not always, no,' and adding 'I've never cried when he shouted at me.'
When Miss Lawson gave evidence last week she said that she had been put on trial, and had been told she must clear her former husband's name.
'I have been put on trial here in front of the world and forced to answer, and I'm happy to answer the allegations, in front of the world's press,' she said.
'And it comes after a long summer of bullying and abuse and I found it just another chapter in that chapter.'
The court was also told that that self-styled Domestic Goddess Miss Lawson, had signed an exclusive deal with chat show queen Oprah Winfrey in order to salvage her reputation.
However, one of Miss Lawson's personal assistants, Anzelle Wasserman, denied the Oprah claim when it was put to her by a lawyer acting for Francesca Grillo.
Giving evidence, another personal assistant Zoe Wales confirmed that she bought a total of £54,552 in clothes from designer label Donna Karan for the celebrity chef between 2008 and 2012.
They would also track down luxury Donna Karan items that were unavailable in London, sometimes ordering coats and dresses for Lawson from a New York store instead.
Ms Wales said she used a Conarco credit card, given to her by Miss Lawson and Mr Saatchi to buy designer products for the family.
She also racked up a bill of £1,368 in just over a week at Annabel's wine cellar to keep the multi millionaire art mogul well stocked in 'specialist' wine.
But quizzed over Mr Saatchi's drinking habits, she admitted: 'I don't know, I've never seen Mr Saatchi drink wine, but then I was not present in the house in the evenings or at weekends.'
Ms Wales, who has worked as a personal assistant to Miss Lawson for nearly 13 years since her marriage to the late John Diamond, said that she and the Grillos did not have to sign their credit card statements before the bills were settled by Saatchi.
She added that the businessman's accountant, Rahul Gajjar, also instructed her to never withdraw cash on the Conarco credit cards.
However, the personal assistant admitted that the Grillos may have been told something different by Mr Gajjar or Saatchi in relation to their credit cards and the use of his on-call taxi service, ComCab.
Saatchi finally became alerted to the Grillos' heavy outgoings when a ComCab taxi phoned him about a booking for Lisa in June last year.
'We were stopped being given credit card statements to sign but assumed the checking was still going on', Ms Wales said.
'I was told that the Conarco card was for household items - Mr Gajjar told me that it was for household items or anything that Charles asked me to buy, or anything that he wanted to give Nigella, and he also said that I was not to withdraw cash on it ever, and that if I needed cash, I was to ask him'.
The court heard that Saatchi also provided a creche at his Eaton Square home in Belgravia for Ms Wales' baby son on agreed days that she was allowed to have him there.
The jury was also told that 'Team Cupcake' were divided by jealousy and claimed credit for the celebrity chef's meteoric success.
Ms Wasserman was allegedly dubbed the 'bitch' of the group of PAs because of her forceful nature.
Ms Arden said: 'You used to have a little motto in the house that it was your job to be the bitch, you said that amongst the girls.'
Ms Wasserman denied she was known by this nickname, but admitted that there was some 'tension' between her and her fellow PA Zoe Wales after the latter came back to work in mid 2011 following her maternity leave.
She said: 'When she went on maternity leave it was a bit rocky, but we sorted it out.'
The PA was also accused of being two faced and stirring tensions between Nigella and her other staff.
Ms Arden said: 'For example, you would say to Francesca that you believed Ms Lawson was being too soft on her child, and that there were not enough rules.
'But you would say the contrary to Ms Lawson.'
However, Ms Wasserman insisted she did 'not recall that conversation'.
Painting a picture of jealousy inside the household, Ms Arden added: 'You would tell the girls that you felt Ms Lawson's success had been contributed to greatly to by you.'
Speaking in a distinct South African accent, Ms Wasserman shot back: 'No, I never did.'
The Grillo sisters, of Bayswater, west London, are accused of committing fraud by abusing their positions by using a company credit card for personal gain between January 1 2008 and December 31 last year.
They both deny the charge.
Nigella Lawson told police 'I am not a drug addict' when she tried to withdraw her witness statement against the Grillo sisters, the court heard.
Miss Lawson was questioned earlier in the trial on why she failed to tell officers that she had taken drugs including cocaine and cannabis, when she met to say she no longer wanted to be a witness in the case.
In a meeting with officers on October 3 this year, the celebrity chef said she didn't want to give evidence at the fraud case because she feared Charles Saatchi would do 'everything he could' to damage her interests and those of her children.
She also accused the art mogul of circulating stories among the press to wreak damage to her reputation.
The investigating officer in the case, Detective Sergeant Peter Lewis, told the court: 'We discussed her reasons for wanting to come to court or not. She then said "I am not a drug addict".'
Jane Carpenter, prosecuting, asked 'When she made that comment, what prompted it?'
DS Lewis replied: 'It wasn't in response to any question from me, I think it was just part of the general discussion in relation to those comments.'
Asked what he thought she meant by the denial, he said: 'I took it to mean that she didn't take drugs.'
Although he admitted he did not question the 53 year-old further about her drug use.
Mr Metzer asked the officer: 'Are you able to confirm that Ms Lawson did not admit to you, either when she made her withdrawal statement, and only for the first time in court when she was cross examined in this trial, that was the first time she had ever indicated to you that she had ever taken any illegal drug.'
He replied: 'That is correct, but as I said I never questioned her further.'
DS Lewis told the court that Elisabetta and Francesca Grillo were arrested in August last year.
They both answered 'no comment' during interviews with police and were eventually charged last March, he said.
They deny committing fraud by abusing their positions by using a company credit card for personal gain between January 1 2008 and December 31 last year.
The trial continues tomorrow. Nigella Lawson's trusted 'Team Cupcake' members spent more than £50,000 on clothes from designer Donna Karan for their boss, a court heard.
The team of personal assistants would go gift shopping for Lawson and use Charles Saatchi's personal account to make the extravagant purchases.
Giving evidence at the trial of former assistants Francesca and Elisabetta Grillo, another personal assistant Zoe Wales confirmed that she bought a total of £54,552 in clothes from designer label Donna Karan for the celebrity chef between 2008 and 2012.
The Grillos, both of Bayswater, London, both deny a single charge of fraud.
They would also track down luxury Donna Karan items that were unavailable in London, sometimes ordering coats and dresses for Lawson from a New York store instead.
Jurors heard that Saatchi also instructed Ms Wales to spend £1,368 on just two bottles of wine from vintage merchant Annabel's.
More than £7,500 went on a custom made sofa from Peter Dudgeon, and £2,250 was spent at Shi Cashmere, which Miss Wales said was for clothes for Miss Lawson.
Ms Wales also used the card to spend £2,950 at William Vintage, a vintage clothes shop, for Miss Lawson.
But the chef also on occasion let her coterie of assistants buy themselves expensive gifts of dinners or shoes on the card as a treat.
And in December 2008 Miss Lawson whisked all her PAs away on a shopping trip to a Christmas market in Brussels.
Ms Wales, who has worked as a personal assistant to Miss Lawson for nearly 13 years since her marriage to the late John Diamond, said that she and the Grillos did not have to sign their credit card statements before the bills were settled by Saatchi.
Earlier, the court was told that another PA Anzelle Wasserman rose through the ranks from tutor to Nigella's children to become her 'principal' PA and is considered 'part of the family'.
The pair are so close that the chef gave her her Donna Karan coat - which Ms Wasserman wore to Isleworth Crown Court in west London in the first day of her evidence yesterday.
Karina Arden, defending Francesca Grillo, said: 'When you arrived at court yesterday you arrived in a Donna Karan coat.'
Ms Wasserman replied: 'Yes, that was a present from the family to me.'
Asked when she got the gift, she added: 'Actually it wasn't bought new, it was given to me.
Accountant: The court was told that Francesco Grillo asked Ms Wasserman for a favour regarding Mr Saatch's finance director Rahul Gajjar
Accountant: The court was told that Francesco Grillo asked Ms Wasserman for a favour regarding Mr Saatch's finance director Rahul Gajjar (pictured)
'It was Ms Lawson's coat and I wore it once because it was cold and she said it looked so much nicer on me, so I could keep it.'
The former teacher was taking to the witness stand for the second day after a three hour grilling yesterday.
She was taken through a list of foreign trips that Francesca Grillo went on with Miss Lawson and Mr Saatchi's daughters from their previous marriages.
Between February 2008 and August 2011, the defendant accompanied the teenagers as they travelled around the world, staying in luxury hotels in New York, Los Angeles, Miami, Amsterdam and Paris, often making several visits each year.
Ms Arden read out a text message her client sent to Ms Wasserman in August 2010 when she chaperoned one of the girls and her friends on holiday to the South of France.
In the message, sent from St Tropez, the defendant asked Ms Wasserman for a favour regarding Mr Saatchi's finance director, Rahul Gajjar, as the trip was turning out be 'super expensive'.
'Could you please ask Rahul to make sure my card is being paid off so I have enough credit over here?
'I have to take cash out every day for cabs and clubs and I'm worried I won't have enough,' Francesca wrote.
The court heard that Ms Wasserman texted back: 'I've just spoken to Rahul. He's going to speak to the bank to tell them you're in St Tropez but he says your card doesn't have a limit so it shouldn't be a problem.'
Asked why Francesca's credit card, tied to Mr Saatchi's account with private bank Coutts, had no limit on it when all the other personal assistants' cards did, Ms Wasserman said she did not know.
She told the court: 'I don't know what the situation was between her and Rahul, it was nothing to do with me. I was being the middle man.'
A third PA, Alice Binks, was asked about the expensive wine from Annabel's.
Anthony Metzer QC, defending Elisabetta, put to her: 'The cellars must have been bursting.'
Ms Binks replied: 'Yes there was a lot of wine down there, we used to but a lot of wine and it was expensive, and we used to buy quite a lot of it.'
Mr Metzer replied: 'He (Mr Saatchi) didn't have a wine problem, he didn't drink a lot did he?'
Ms Binks said: 'I don't know, but they often had parties.'
The case continues.
more gist to come. lol. posted by Emanto Ngaloru Nov 11, 2013.
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