Recent Miami Beach Commission candidate arrested on domestic violence charge

Art consultant Marcella Novela, who lost a bid for the Miami Beach Commission last month by just 67 votes, was arrested on the eve of Thanksgiving following a domestic dispute with her husband.

Miami Beach police booked Novela and her spouse, real estate executive Ricardo Dunin-Borkowsky, at Miami-Dade County’s Turner Guilford Knight Correctional Center on Wednesday night, according to the Miami Herald.

Both face a charge of misdemeanor domestic violence battery and have since bonded out.

A police report the Herald obtained said a Miami Beach police officer responded to a domestic disturbance call at the couple’s home at 9:30 a.m. Wednesday. Novela had pushed Dunin-Borkowsky into a pool, the report said, and Dunin-Borkowsky said he was afraid to get out.

The officer, who found Dunin-Borkowsky in the pool surrounded with many of his belongings and Novela on the edge of the pool, said Novela’s breath had a “strong odor of alcohol.” Novela said she’d been drinking until 3 a.m.

Novela, 45, and Dunin-Borkowsky, 64, each claimed the other attacked them. Novela said Dunin-Borkowsky grabbed her by the throat and pushed her into a dresser, after which she punched him in the head in self-defense.

Dunin-Borkowsky said Novela punched him in the head after an argument. Neither disputed that Novela pushed him into the pool.

The officer noted Novela had a red mark on her neck and Dunin-Borkowsky had a small cut on his head. Both were arrested for “their actions and as mutual combatants,” the report said.

Novela, whom the Herald endorsed Oct. 20 for the District 6 seat on the Miami Beach Commission, is a community activist and the owner of Art Conductor, an art consultancy and curation firm.

She lost a razor-thin election to fellow former Republican Joe Magazine, a 40-year-old investment executive. Magazine won by a 0.52-percentage-point margin. More than 12,900 voters cast ballots in the race.

Novela chairs the city’s Art in Public Places board and is a former trustee of the Perez Art Museum Miami.

Heading into the election’s home stretch, Novela held a funding advantage over Magazine due to a $100,000 loan from Dunin-Borkowsky, the founder and CEO of Miami-based real estate firm Oak Capital.

Dunin-Borkowsky, who also owns the Flagler Group, among other companies in and out of the United States, operates professionally as Ricardo Dunin.