The former owner of the Cumberland Hotel in Smeaton has faced court for the first time on charges of breaching his liquor licence, after not appearing at multiple prior hearings.
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Caleb Consiglio ran the Cumberland Hotel alongside his husband James Consiglio until March 2023, when the pair left the business and Smeaton for good.
Since then, Liquor Control Victoria have laid charges against Cj and Ja Consiglio Pty Ltd, the business, for making false or misleading statements to the liquor control board.
The liquor regulator claimed the couple made false "declaration of associates" when signing over the transfer of liquor licence of the business from its previous owners.
On December 20, 2022, a liquor licence was granted to the business, with special conditions that "James-Anthony Consiglio is not to have any involvement, directly or indirectly, in the business of the license and is not allowed to attend the license premises during trading hours or when it is opened to the public".
Claims liquor licence conditions breached
Despite this, Liquor Control Victoria claim James was seen on site, in breach of the liquor licence conditions.
Caleb, as now the sole director of the business, is answering the charges against Ca and Ja Consiglio Pty Ltd, as well as personal charges of making false statements to the regulator.
At Tuesday's hearing, Liquor Control Victoria prosecutor Michael Majewski said the group had a hard time contacting Caleb, and wanted to resolve the matter "ex parte", or in his absence.
Tuesday's hearing followed an earlier hearing for the matter, in which Caleb was not present, and Magistrate Michelle Mykytowycz allowed an ex parte hearing on the next occasion.
Caleb attended Tuesday's hearing via video link, the first time he has appeared in court for the charges, and told the court he intended to plead not guilty to them.
He sought an adjournment to seek legal advice.
Seeking documents
Caleb also told the court he had not received material relating to Liquor Control Victoria's case against him, despite an email being sent in early 2024.
Magistrate Mykytowycz required Caleb to provide his current email address to the prosecutor at the hearing. Despite this, Caleb claimed he still did not get any email.
Caleb was then required to provide a current residential address for Liquor Control Victoria to email the documents to him.
Magistrate Mykytowycz said it would be the last time Caleb was allowed before having to progress the matter to a contested hearing.
The matter will return to court on July 31.
In August 2023 Caleb's husband James Cosiglio appeared at the Kyneton Magistrates' Court to plead guilty to using a stolen card to make over $7000 in purchases.
James was convicted and placed on a community corrections order for 18 months, during which he must complete 300 hours of unpaid community work.
It came after James was allegedly hit by a car, and a separate car crash took out the pub's verandah poles.
