Sex trafficking victim Virginia Giuffre stayed away from a Western Australian court on Wednesday morning when a domestic violence charge against her was mentioned by her lawyer.
Giuffre was listed to appear before a magistrate less than 48 hours after she was released from hospital following a now infamous social media post in which she claimed to have four days to live.
The 41-year-old, who was trafficked by the late American paedophile Jeffrey Epstein as a teenager, has not been seen in public since being involved in what police called a minor bus crash.
American-born Giuffre was sneaked out the back door of Perth’s Sir Charles Gairdner Hospital on Monday afternoon to avoid a large media pack at the front of the facility.
On Wednesday, about a dozen reporters waited for her scheduled appearance at Joondalup Magistrates Court but she did not appear in person.
Instead, lawyer Karrie Louden sought an adjournment and said she was in negotiations with police.
Giuffre was charged with breaching a family violence restraining order just days before the bus crash which she initially said was going to kill her.
She was first listed to face the same court, about 30km north of Perth’s central business district, on March 14.
Giuffre, 41, posted on Instagram about the crash on March 24, which occurred ten days after she was listed at the court near her $2m former family home
Virgina Giuffre is estranged from husband of 22 years Robert (above the couple in 2019) and in March she was charged with alleged breaching a family violence restraining order
Outside court on Wednesday, Mr Louden said she was not in a position to comment on the charge while the proceedings were before court.
She said Giuffre was not required to appear on Wednesday. Daily Mail Australia understands police advised her not to attend.
Ms Louden said she expected Giuffre would provide an update on her health soon and referred further inquiries to her US-based representative.
The matter was adjourned until June 11 when Giuffre will be required to enter a plea.
Giuffre has claimed she was sexually abused by Prince Andrew at the behest of Epstein’s associate, jailed British socialite Ghislaine Maxwell, when she was just 17.
The Duke of York has denied the allegation, as has Maxwell – who is a convicted sex offender – while Epstein died in a New York prison in 2019.
Giuffre, née Roberts, posted a photograph on Instagram from her hospital bed on March 30, stating doctors had told her she had just four days left to live.
She said her car had been hit by a school bus travelling at 110km/h and the accident had left her with kidney failure.
The famous photograph of the-then Virginia Roberts and Prince Andrew and Ghislaine Maxwell that led to the royal’s downfall and the reported $20million payout
The photograph showed discolouration to Giuffre’s face and chest which has been described as severe bruising.
Three days after the picture emerged, a spokesman for Giuffre said she had ‘made a mistake’ and had not intended to share the post publicly.
Daily Mail Australia subsequently revealed Giuffre had been listed to face court ten days before the crash over the alleged breach of the family violence restraining order.
Her estranged husband Robert Giuffre was also listed at the same court the previous month for allegedly ‘providing inadequate storage facility for firearms’.
The couple recently separated after 22 years of marriage and no longer live together at their lavish $1.9million mansion in a Perth beachside suburb.
They bought the six-bedroom home five years ago, putting down a deposit on the property six months before Giuffree launched her lawsuit against Prince Andrew for allegedly sexually abusing her when she was a teenager.
The purchase was finalised before the matter was settled out of court with a reported $20million payout from the Duke of York.
The Giuffres now appear to be locked in a messy tug of love over their two sons and one daughter.
She has been staying on a 16-hectare farm, bought for $1.3million and located less than an hour’s drive north from the family’s beachfront mansion, where her husband is still living.
Two days before the car crash, on March 22, Giuffre posted a sun-dappled picture of her children on a beach, accompanied by an apparent desperate plea to see them.
‘My beautiful babies have no clue how much I love them and they’re being poisoned with lies,’ she posted.
‘I miss them so very much. I have been through hell and back in my 41 years but this is incredibly hurting me worse than anything else.
‘Hurt me, abuse me but don’t take my babies. My heart is shattered and every day that passes my sadness only deepens.’
In the post from her hospital bed a week later, Giuffre said: ‘I’ve gone into kidney renal failure, they’ve given me four days to live, transferring me to a specialist hospital in urology.’
‘I’m ready to go, just not until I see my babies one last time. My heart is shattered and every day that passes my sadness only deepens.’
Two days after that post, Western Australia Police revealed Giuffre was a passenger in a car involved in a ‘minor collision’ with a bus in Neergabby, 80km north of Perth, on March 24 and no-one had been injured.
Giuffre’s 71-year-old caretaker Cheryl Sassela had been behind the wheel of the white Toyota that was hit.
Ms Sassela, who helps look after Giuffre’s livestock, including horses and chickens, appeared physically unscathed when she spoke to Daily Mail Australia last week.
She denied she had been part of a ‘cover-up’ and believed Giuffre would provide further details about the bus accident to clear up any confusion.
‘I’m sure Virginia will release a statement soon to clear it all up,’ she said.
Police said the collision was reported by the bus driver the following day and the car sustained damage totalling approximately $2,000.
‘We have no report of any serious injuries,’ Acting Western Australian Police Commissioner Kylie Whiteley said.
Bus driver Ross Munns and multiple passengers have come forward to describe the backroad bingle as nothing more than a ‘minor bump’.
Giuffre is understood to have initially been treated at Joondalup Hospital for a pre-existing condition and released.
Virginia Giuffre with a photo of her younger self (left) and the late Jeffrey Epstein with Ghislaine Maxwell, decades before they would each be jailed in the US on sex trafficking charges
She checked into Perth’s Sir Charles Gairdner Hospital about 3am on April 1, two days after the disturbing Instagram post went public.
Giuffre rescinded the ‘deathbed’ farewell claims via a spokesperson last Wednesday and said she mistakenly posted them to her public Instagram page.
‘Today she remains in a serious condition while receiving medical care,’ her agent said.
‘On March 24, in rural Western Australia, a school bus hit the car in which she was riding. The police were called but said that there was no-one available to come to the scene.
‘They asked if anyone was injured and suggested that if they were, they should make their way to the hospital.
‘The school bus driver had a bus full of distraught children and left the scene to get them back, saying he would file a police report, which he did later.
‘Virginia was banged up and bruised and returned home. Virginia’s condition worsened and she was admitted to hospital.’
Giuffre had another attempt at clarifying what caused her injuries, telling People magazine she was involved in an incident which occurred in January.
The Giuffres no longer live together at their lavish $1.9million mansion in a Perth’s beachside suburb (pictured)
Giuffre has been living on a 16-hectare farm, bought for $1.3million and located less than an hour’s drive north from the family’s former beachfront mansion. The front gate is pictured
Her brother Sky Roberts explained his sister’s ‘four days to live’ claim, by saying she was told by doctors she would have died in that timeframe without medical treatment.
Mr Roberts said his sibling’s injuries were likely not caused solely by the bush collision.
‘Let’s be clear, she never stated in the bus accident the cause of all the other injuries,’ he said.
Mr Roberts admitted he did not know the specifics of ‘what happened internally’ to Giuffre but said her injuries were ‘consistent’ with a car crash.
‘Nobody ever said her liver issues and kidney failure were ever from that,’ he said.
‘We still don’t know if it is. I’m not a medical professional. That’s up to her doctor to determine.’
Giuffre met her future husband when she was 19 while training as a masseuse in Thailand. The massage course had been paid for by Jeffrey Epstein.
