Vinzent Tarantino ‘drank too much’ prior to altercation in Sydney’s inner west

Three hours later, Mr Tarantino opened the door to the unit and was arrested. Officers searched the unit and seized two swords and 15 knives.

Mr Tarantino was taken to Burwood Police Station, where he was charged with assault occasioning actual bodily harm and common assault.

He appeared before Burwood Local Court on Thursday where his lawyer, Charles Abbott, told the court alcohol had been involved in the incident.

The matter will next be heard on January 28. Mr Tarantino will remain on bail.

Mr Tarantino told reporters outside court, the incident followed an “organised dinner” which involved the drinking of “two-and-a-half bottles … of scotch”.

“Me and him drunk too much, we had an altercation and she tried to separate us. That was it,” he said. “Me and the guy were having an altercation, she [Ms Kovacs] jumped in the way.”

He added he doesn’t drink, but the stress of several relatives’ illnesses, including his father and uncle, may have been the cause.

“My uncle, who I love, is very seriously ill at the moment. The guy’s father – the same thing is happening with him at the moment. I had never met him and I thought to be sociable to have a few drinks. And we got carried away, that was it,” Mr Tarantino said outside court.

He added the samurai swords were in the unit “because I did a lot of martial arts”.

“The other stuff, I collect … Nothing there was illegal,” he said.

Last year, Mr Tarantino stood trial for the abduction and murder of Diec in 1998 and was found not guilty. 

The schoolgirl was plucked off a Granville street on July 27, 1998, just minutes after she left home to catch the train to Strathfield Girls High School.

CCTV footage showed her being followed by a shadowy figure as she walked past an Australia Post sorting centre 400 metres from her home. She never made it to the other end of the sorting facility.