Walking hand-in-hand with new love Sanchia Brahimi, Sydney lawyer Paul Smith looks happy again after being given a second chance at love, two years after his wife Katrina was killed in the terrible Lindt café siege.
As our exclusive first photos show, Paul and Sanchia appear to be enjoying the throes of their blossoming new romance.
In fact, things are going so well he recently introduced Sanchia to close friends and family at his 40th birthday party in Sydney. Two weeks ago the pair were spotted spending a long weekend at Berrima in the Southern Highlands.
The couple stayed at former Aussie cricket captain Michael Clarke’s hobby farm, Round Hill, for three nights and looked happy and relaxed when they met up with friends at the Bendooley Estate vineyard.
They have been quietly dating in recent months, spending time with each other and their respective children, with only a close circle of friends even aware of the budding romance – until Sanchia accompanied Paul to his birthday party.
“It’s just nice to see him happy again,” confirmed one friend.
Friends are thrilled to see Paul smiling again.
Sanchia Brahimi split from her chef husband Guillaume Brahimi earlier in the year.
Two weeks ago, the pair were spotted spending a long weekend at Berrima in the Southern Highlands.
Sanchia, who is the daughter of media magnate Charles Curran and his wife Eva, ended her 16-year marriage to celebrated French born chef Guillaume Brahimi in February, and had recently been confiding to friends that she had fallen in love.
“She’s been very coy about it, but she does seem really happy,” revealed another friend.
As these exclusive first photos show, the couple couldn’t be happier.
Paul recently introduced his new partner to his friends and family at his 40th.
“She’s been very coy about it, but she does seem really happy,” a friend says.
Sanchia has been telling friends she’s fallen in love.
Walking hand in hand with Sanchia, Paul looks happy again.
The pair have also met each other’s children.
Sanchia and Guillaume, who established the famed Bennelong restaurant in the Opera House, have three daughters, Constance, Honor, Violette and one son Loic, who still live with her in the magnificent manor house in Vaucluse she shared with her ex-husband.
Paul has been raising the three children he had with Katrina, Chloe, Oliver and Sasha, alone since that terrible day in December, 2014, when his wife Katrina, also a barrister, was killed in the Lindt Café siege.
Paul, who is a partner at prestigious law firm King & Wood Mallesons, and Katrina’s brother, QC Sandy Dawson, set up the Katrina Dawson Foundation to assist young women who are financially hampered in pursuing their dreams after Katrina’s death.
Sanchia and her ex Guillaume, who established the famed Bennelong restaurant in the Opera House, share three daughters and one son.
This December marks two years since Katrina passed away.
Friends and family are supportive of their romance.
