Secret court documents detailing the night Sam Wood was charged with strangling his wife Snezana – and a history of alleged abuse – are among the files The Bachelor star is fighting to suppress as he makes a last-ditch bid for release from jai
l.
The reality TV star will make his third attempt at bail either this Friday or on November 17, through a rarely used application to Queensland's highest court, the Court of Appeal.
It's a final chance for the disgraced fitness influencer, who is reportedly drawing on what remains of his collapsed $70million fortune in an attempt to get out of custody.
Wood's legal team has filed an appeal strongly criticising the Supreme Court judge who refused him bail last week.
They argue the judge did not properly consider proposals – including Wood attending a 'men's behavioural change' (MBC) programme – when finding he posed too great a risk to his wife, stepdaughter Eve and the broader community to be granted bail.
MBC therapy is considered controversial, with critics of such programs arguing that participation alone is no guarantee an offender's behaviour will change and should not automatically be viewed as reducing the risk of future violence.
Wood's appeal also condemns the court's failure to suppress a series of 'untested and uncharged allegations' previously mentioned in open court through a non-publication order.
These allegations include Wood's alleged choking or strangulation of Snezana in 2021, for which police attended but no charges were laid.
The stakes have never been higher for Sam Wood (above with estranged wife Snezana) as he makes a last bid for freedom and fights to keep documents on his alleged abuse under wraps
Sam Wood's final bid for bail will be heard on Friday or later this month, with conditions that he not approach his estranged wife or stepdaughter Eve (pictured on Sunday)
That incident, photographs Snezana kept of her alleged injuries, and other past abuse claims are now the subject of a suppression order application by Wood's lawyers, which is being opposed by a group of media outlets, including the Daily Mail.
The names and addresses of people who supported Wood's bail application have also been redacted from official documents. The release of non-redacted documents is pending consideration by the higher court.
Wood's legal team – including a Brisbane King's Counsel (KC) and the Noosa law firm engaged after he was placed in the Maroochydore watchhouse following his October 3 arrest – are pushing for an urgent hearing, likely to be held late next week.
A panel of three or more Queensland Supreme Court judges will sit on the appeals bench to consider Wood's arguments that Justice Patrick McCafferty gave 'no proper consideration' to the length of time he has already spent in custody.
Wood has now been in prison for over a month since the alleged October 3 attack at a $3,000-a-night luxury Noosa villa – the night before he, Snezana and their children were due to fly home to Melbourne.
He is being held in maximum-security Wolston Correctional Centre, alongside notorious Queensland criminals including child murderer Brett Peter Cowan and wife-killer Gerard Baden-Clay.
While it's common for other inmates appealing to the Court of Appeal to remain behind bars as judges deliberate, the Mail understands the bench could decide to grant Wood bail and publish its reasons at a later date.
Wood's Notice of Appeal was filed on Tuesday afternoon, at a time when Justice McCafferty had not yet formally published his reasons for denying the 46-year-old bail.
Experienced legal sources told the Mail they believed Wood's third and final 'throw at the stumps' might be 'pushing it', noting 'the seriousness of the allegations - that he could have killed her' magnifies the risks associated with his release.
McCafferty described Wood's charges as 'choking, suffocation and strangulation in a domestic setting, and assault occasioning actual bodily harm' – indictable offences which could be heard before a jury.
Snezana Wood is pictured in August 2025 with a dressing on her neck and a downcast expression. The court heard Sam Wood allegedly choked her during an assault in 2021
Wood, 46, is expected to have lost some of his physical condition after spending over a month in the squalid Wolston Correctional Centre west of Brisbane
Wood's lawyers suggested last week that the father of three young daughters and stepfather of 21-year-old Eve Markoski-Wood – Snezana's child from a previous marriage – was prepared to stay out of Victoria, where his wife and her family live.
The court heard his '20-year fitness business' had been 'placed into a precarious state' since his arrest, with his 28 by Sam Wood program rebranded and his name and face removed before last week's failed bail application.
His lawyers proposed conditions including living in Tasmania, or at a 'Brisbane address with a member of [his] family who has a very sensitive profession and a young child.'
They argued he is 'very recognisable' and would only 'travel through regular channels' to Queensland for court hearings, and that his time in custody on remand would likely exceed any sentence.
The appeal notice claims Justice McCafferty gave 'no, or no proper consideration' to that point. His barrister Paula Morreau KC had estimated any sentence would be no more than two years, with about 12 months actually spent in custody.
She had offered a $1million surety from a family member, which would be forfeited if Wood absconded or breached his bail, and said he would be living 'on an island surrounded by sea' with his father and two siblings.
The appeal asserts that the judge 'erred in failing to consider whether the proposed conditions, individually or in combination, would reduce the risk of further offending to an acceptable level... and in failing to give reasons for concluding they would not'.
Snezana Wood is pictured last week with two of the daughters she shares with Sam
Sam Wood's previous alleged choking assault of his wife Snezana was described in court by the judge as 'credible' despite no charges being laid - and photographs of her injuries still exist
In the appeal, McCafferty is also deemed to have failed to place a suppression order over 'the untested and uncharged allegations' that 'would prejudice [Wood's] fair trial'.
Wood's lawyers have now sought orders to set aside McCafferty's decision and to grant him bail on the proposed conditions or 'conditions as the court considers appropriate'.
These conditions would include forfeiting his passport, abstaining from alcohol and drugs, and not contacting the complainant, Snezana, or witness, Eve.
The proposal that he attend a behavioural course for males could see him enrolled in Tasmania's Men Engaging New Strategies Program, which operates in Hobart 'to increase safety for women and children by helping you reduce and prevent harmful behaviour'.
If he qualifies, the program 'is for men who are using low to medium risk family violence'.
Wood's lawyers' outstanding application for a suppression order would likely be heard on a different date to the bail appeal.
Last week, Justice McCafferty referred several times to the 'principles of open justice' when asked about proposed suppression orders over the names of Wood's family and friends who have been the subject of 'massive media attention'.
Ms Morreau said 'the media involvement at this point has extended beyond reportage of proceedings'.
If Wood is granted bail, he will face the challenge of rebuilding his life after it was shattered by his alleged actions. Bail conditions will require no contact with Snezana or the main witness, Eve. (Wood pictured above with both)
If granted bail, Sam Wood is expected to live in Tasmania with his father Andrew (pictured right, at the Fish Frenzy restaurant in Hobart, which he managed before retiring in 2020)
She cited cases of journalists lingering outside addresses 'where family members lived and they have been in attendance at those properties watching the comings and goings'.
Justice McCafferty said many of these addresses were readily available to both the public and the press, and that 'the last I checked, privacy wasn't a reason alone to suppress information'.
However, the fresh appeals notice maintains that 'in declining to make the non-publication order, the primary judge... erred in concluding that an order restraining publication was not necessary to prevent prejudice to the proper administration of justice'.
Justice McCafferty ultimately ruled he could not be satisfied Wood did not pose an unacceptable risk on release.
Wood's lawyers are now asking the Court of Appeal judges to consider their colleague's 'decision to refuse bail was unreasonable or plainly unjust'.
Andrew Wood (above, running the gauntlet with media after his son's failed bail application last Friday) is believed to have provided the $1million surety to secure Sam's release from prison
If three appeal judges dismiss Wood's case and uphold Justice McCafferty's decision, Sam Wood will remain in Wolston Correctional Centre west of Brisbane
It will be the job of those judges to listen to arguments from both sides and determine whether an error of law was made or a crucial fact overlooked in the original hearing.
Their Honours can either dismiss Wood's appeal and uphold McCafferty's decision, in which case Wood stays in prison until his trial, which might not take place until 2028, or they can set aside the refusal of bail and make a new order, releasing the TV star from custody.
If he is released, Wood is expected to return home to Hobart with his 70-something father, to see if anything can be salvaged from the wreckage of his life.
If not, he will have plenty of time to reflect in his two-by-four-metre cell – complete with its own shower and toilet – on the events leading up to October 3: the 'significant stresses and more frequent confrontations' with Snezana, his alleged drug use and partying, the collapse of his once-celebrated marriage and, of course, those alleged words to Snez and young Eve that they 'can both die'.
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