The son and heir of fine dining tycoon Bill Drakopoulos will learn his fate on Thursday after he admitted seriously assaulting his then-fiancée. Former private schoolboy Daniel Jackson Drakopoulos, 30, attacked his ex-partner on February 17, 2024, leaving her with a permanent injury.
Family Background
His father has run Sydney restaurant group SRG Hospitality for the last 26 years, spruiked in the media as the high-end 'restaurant empire with family values'. Its 21 premium venues include fine dining harbourside restaurants such as Aqua and Ormeggio, and north shore diners including the Ripples chain and Chiosco. Mr Drakopoulos, dubbed 'King of the Waterfront', recently confirmed he was stepping back and handing the reins to Daniel and his brother Perry as co-managing directors.
The family turned out to support Daniel for his hearing at Downing Centre Local Court last year with his father and Perry joined by mother Kathleen and one of his sisters.
Charges and Plea Deal
Drakopoulos initially faced seven charges, including choking his then-fiancée at her Paddington home in Sydney's eastern suburbs and stealing her $40,000 engagement ring. But after a plea deal with prosecutors, most of the charges - including stalking, intimidation, and break and enter - were dropped. Drakopoulos pleaded guilty to assault occasioning actual bodily harm and destroying or damaging property, when he threw the victim's mobile phone against the wall.
Like Perry and their sisters Anastasia and Nicola, all directors of their father's company, Drakopoulos has enjoyed a privileged upbringing. Their social media has featured happy family snaps of them jetting around the world on luxury holidays to idyllic locations such as the Maldives, Ibiza, Tokyo and Greece.
Statements and Upcoming Sentencing
Drakopoulos told The Australian last month that his family had instilled good manners in him from an early age. 'Before you inherit credibility, you inherit responsibility and you need to work to build that credibility,' he said. 'There was a saying that Dad said to us, "if you don't say thank you to a waiter, you're not a nice person".' The former pupil at $42,000-a-year St Ignatius' College Riverview has been leading the expansion of the family empire beyond Sydney, opening venues at Budgewoi on the NSW Central Coast. Drakopoulos will appear before Judge Brett Thomas for sentencing on April 30.
