Matthew Newton on assault charges

Actor Matthew Newton has been charged with two counts of assault after he allegedly punched a Sydney taxi driver.

Police allege Newton hailed a cab in Crows Nest at 10.30 Sunday morning December 4.

”The driver alleges he then became aggressive and punched him in the head,” a police spokesman said today.

”The 66-year-old driver stopped the cab and it is alleged he was assaulted again.”

The incident comes less than two weeks after an interview with A Current Affair‘s Tracy Grimshaw in which he spoke about a mental breakdown.

“Harming anyone…it’s intolerable to harm women. It’s intolerable to harm your best friend. Several of your best friends and it’s intolerable to harm yourself and I’ve done all of those things and I utterly regret it,” he said.

Newton, 35, now has a long track record of domestic violence including assaulting former girlfriends Brooke Satchwell, Rachael Taylor and trashed hotel room bills, as well as treatment at at Sydney’s Northside West Clinic.

He told A Current Affair he struggled with post-traumatic stress, obsessive compulsive disorder and bipolar depression.

“I’m feeling the strongest I’ve ever felt in my life which is still not saying a lot but I’m feeling much more focused and a lot clearer than I’ve ever been in my life,” he said at the time.

Newton is expected to appear in North Sydney Local Court on January 31.

Updated: Newton’s lawyer Chris Murphy says the charged will be defended saying via Twitter: The film footage taken within the taxi does not show any assault taking place within the vehicle as alleged.

Read more: The Age, Daily Telegraph