An Australian property boss lived a life of luxury abroad with his glamorous wife… but he’s been jailed for a despicable act behind closed doors in his French home

An Australian property executive who repeatedly punched his wife during drunken arguments at their French home has been jailed for a year.

Damien Carew, 44, twice strangled his wife Anna Polianskaya, also called Ana Polianski, and smashed her head into the side of a bathtub, leaving her in hospital, a court in Nice, France heard this week.

The arguments between Carew, a graduate of Melbourne’s prestigious St Kevin’s College, and his Russian wife occurred in late 2022 when he returned home after a year in custody over a money laundering investigation.

“We drank all day and sometimes we would start fights and there was violence from me,” Carew told the court through an interpreter. Herald Sun reported.

He said the couple would argue over whose fault it was that they had lost custody of their two children, who had been placed in the care of Ms Polianskaya’s mother after school teachers raised concerns about the school’s heavy drinking in early 2023 couple.

After an argument in April 2023 at their home in the picturesque village of La Turbie near Monaco, Ms Polianskaya was rushed to hospital and put into an induced coma, prompting police to arrest Carew and charge him with attempted murder .

That charge was later downgraded to repeated domestic violence against a spouse.

He was sentenced to 12 months in prison, but that can be served in home detention, taking into account the 16 months Carew spent in a cell awaiting trial.

Until his life began to unravel in late 2021, Carew had been a successful real estate entrepreneur and the couple had lived a life of luxury in Dubai and France after meeting on a beach in Monaco in 2011.

Melbourne’s Damien Carew was jailed for repeatedly assaulting his wife Anna Polianskaya (pictured together)

Carew called emergency services after an incident involving his wife in April 2023, local media reported. He is also separately involved in a money laundering investigation after being found on a Paris street with hundreds of thousands of dollars in cash in his bag.

The court heard that Carew’s property business had been hit hard by the Covid pandemic.

Before that, they lived the good life in Dubai and then moved to the tax haven of Monaco at the end of 2014 to settle down.

“They lived in a huge villa on Palm Islands,” a friend previously told Daily Mail Australia.

‘They were a very nice couple, as you can see. They obviously had a very flashy life. They live in Monaco, they’ve been to Dubai.’

While in the UAE, Ms Polianskaya-Carew worked for US commercial real estate services company Jones Lang LaSalle and her husband was involved in real estate and diamond trading.

‘They are the most generous people, quite quirky, but very down to earth. They are just so nice. It’s just so sad. My heart breaks for the children,” the friend said.

Damien Carew and Anna Polianskaya lived in the United Arab Emirates for several years, where they had a ‘gigantic’ house in the exclusive Palm Islands (above)

A friend of the couple said Carew had had a tough time since being released from prison and returning to Russian-born Mrs Polianskaya (above)

In October 2021, Carew was reportedly found intoxicated by firefighters on a Paris street with almost €200,000 cash ($A335,000) in an ordinary-looking bag.

Police were called, who then reportedly found a further €160,000 in cash after searching an apartment in the north of Paris where he was staying. He is said to have transacted approximately €4 million ($6.7 million) through his accounts or in cash.

Carew was charged with money laundering and conspiracy to commit a crime punishable by ten years in prison.

His lawyer claims he was a low-level bagman in an international network whose job was only to deliver cash to people in Paris hotels.

Carew spent a year in custody before being released on bail and returning to his home in La Turbie to live with Ms Polianskaya and their two children, a girl born in 2017 and a boy born in 2019.

‘I understand that having three dogs and two children after a prison sentence is a lot, but that is no excuse [for violence]Ms Polianskaya told the court through an interpreter.

The couple and their two children lived in a rented villa in La Turbie (above), near the wealthy city-state of Monaco. Carew has moved to Antibes and the children live with Ms Polianskaya’s mother

A medical examination when Ms Polianskaya was admitted to hospital in April 2023 found multiple bruises on her eye sockets, chin, abdomen, arms, legs and back.

She also had damage to her scapula and pelvis, along with brain damage from her head hitting the bathtub.

Carew admitted hitting her several times but claimed she bruised easily because she was anemic and often fell over while drinking, which Ms Polianskaya denied.

In the half-day trial, Carew was also ordered to pay 30,000 euros in damages to Ms Polianskaya, subject to review at a later date, and was banned from contacting her for three years.

The money laundering investigation continues and Carew cannot leave the country until it is completed.