This is the case of Marion Barter, a mother, teacher, friend missing for twenty six years.
You know, no sign that she was going to vanish, that's for sure.
The bizarre circumstances surrounding her disappearance, I'm not sure if it was intentional or there's something more foul afoot.
If you could imagine a teacher coming straight from say little house on the prairie to the eighties, that was Marian Barter. What I say, whether you find Marian Barter dead or alive, I honestly believe somebody has that key piece of information.
And the relentless quest of a daughter to find her mum.
Something had happened, Something has happened to make her leave.
I am one hundred percent sure, one hundred percent sure that somebody knows something. The lady vanishes, Episode forty nine. I'm aliceon Sandy.
And I'm Brian Seymour. We're back at Lismore for day two, the afternoon session of this three day hearing, the latest in the coronial inquest into the disappearance of Marion Barter. The questions returned to the evidence of Gilaine du Bois d'An lois and again mister Bloom, in a hesitant and stuttering voice, rejects everything that is put to him. No, he did not suggest that they should marry in Balley
in two thousand and six. No, he did not tell her they would start a new life together in Australia. And no, he did not persuade her to withdraw some sixty thousand euros.
Never. No, I know she claimed that, but that never happened. I never went to a bank with her, like she said. Never.
She says that you persuaded her to withdraw sixty thousand euros. You deny that.
Yes, she never gave me a penny. In fact, every time I went to her place, oftentimes I bought. I bought the food and everything. She never never, never spent a penny on me. You got my travel records right. I was long gone before she sought her house.
Well, I was coming to that, mister Blum. Did you persuade her to sell her house so you could start a new life abroad.
That's a lie. The reasons she was set in her house was because her son's farm burnt out and she was going to buy a farm in France. But I was long back in Australia when that happened.
There are some similarities, are there not? Between what Madame Danoix has to say in comparison to what genitalg, Jeanette Geffney Bowen and Manique Cornelius have said in relation to you and them starting a new life.
Mister Bloom's barrister Matthew White raises an objection, but Coroner Thereensa. O'Sullivan dismisses it, allowing mister Caunselton to repeat his question, which he does.
Will you agree with me that there are similarities between what you said to Madame Danois about starting a new life together in comparison to what Janet Oldenburg, Jeanette Gefney Bowen and Benique Cornelius have said about you saying to them let's start a new life together.
I can't remember what happened. Explain to It's like a disc who slips in my head. I I have terrible headaches, don't remember.
Do you remember accurately helping Madame Danois pack some trunks of her belongings to ship them to Australia.
In a statement at one stage she said one trunk and I don't know the statement and she see two trunks. I flew back home with only the suitcases. I didn't take any trunks.
When you commenced your romantic relationship with Marion Barter in nineteen ninety seven, it.
Was an romantic She's a one who proposed itwas never romantic.
You've admitted a sexual relationship with Marion Barter in nineteen ninety seven, mister Blum.
Yes, but that doesn't mean it was romantic.
Here the coroner intervenes to settle the distinction. Mister Bloom seems to be making.
Let's call it sexual.
I'm happy to do that. When you commenced your sexual relationship with Marion Barter in nineteen ninety seven, did you seek to persuade her to sell her house?
No, no, no no.
And did you seek to persuade her to sell her house so that the two of you could start a new life together in Europe?
No, no, no.
And did you suggest to Marion Barter in nineteen ninety seven that she should resign from her job as a teacher on the Gold Coast and to open up a school in Europe.
That's something she said that she will do.
But did you undergo a ceremony of sorts with Marion Barter in Europe, where she may believe she was married.
How can you organize that? In Europe? You produce alls birth certificate and all your You've got published bands for the marry. You can't just get married like that.
Did you promise Marion Barter in nineteen ninety seven that the two of you should marry abroad?
No? No, no, I saw her as three times in my.
Life, perhaps four, mister Blum, correct, excluding nineteen sixty eight.
No. I think I saw her and stayed at the house once, and I saw her on two other days. And that day she drove me to the best depot and I returned home. I didn't stay the night.
And of course you saw her at your place at Wollongbar. Sorry, you also saw her at your place at Wollongba just outside of Lismore on the road.
Yeah, yeah, when she when she brought when, no, she didn't come. It was a man. It was a little man who came in and delivered. And then I saw her. I think she came when she came with another person to pick up the boxes.
Did you promise Marion Barter in nineteen ninety seven that you would start a new life together?
In BALI No, sir, no, why why would I?
Mister counselten suggests a morning adjournment.
During the breaking proceedings. I chat to some of the people who've turned up to watch. So this is She's been following the podcast since the beginning and lives less than an hour away in Mullumbimbi.
It's fascinating being here in person. It's just made it all feel very real. It's interesting to see him in person, and I feel very emotional and very just stressed actually listening to him talk and thinking about Marian and what may or may not have happened to her.
What do you think about him? Like, are you buying this whole?
Not at all.
I think he's just a complete liar, and I don't believe a word of what he's saying. And I think that he's proven himself to be a complete opportunist and corn artist, and so I don't know how anyone can believe what he's anything that he's saying. It's all seems like lies to me. And when he talks, it seems like he's, you know, using a speech pattern to buy time and to avoid and I could just see right
through all of it. The way that things have unfolded during the course of and because of this podcast has just been so incredible and gripping.
After the break, the evidence of the woman we know as Charlotte is raised. A statement she made to Belgium police in twenty twelve has been tended to the court. She won't be giving evidence in person because she wants to keep her name private. We're continuing to use the pseudonym. Although her true identity is revealed in court. We can say that she is the wife of Rick Blum's deceased cousin.
Mister Cassadin puts to mister Blum that he traveled to Belgium in February twenty twelve to meet with Charlotte, and that they later traveled together to Bali. Several questions and mister Blum's responses are always rambling and full of stuttering and bumbling. He mentions an inheritance from his mother and
how somehow his cousin, a banker, was involved. He accepts that he did not go to his cousin's funeral in July twenty eleven, but did travel to Belgium just seven months later to see his cousin's grieving widow, a woman he had only seen once in the previous twenty years, at an aunt's funeral.
Is it true, mister Blum, that shortly after your cousin passed that you contacted his widow by telephone?
It was was regarding the money of my mother that was left with her hostpan.
Did you disclose to Charlotte and your conversations leading up to your visit in February twenty twelve that you were married to Diane?
She knew she knew that.
Charlotte most definitely, by her account, did not know that he was married. Mister Blum also denies that he went to Belgium in early twenty twelve with the intent to seduce his cousin's widow, nor did he agree with suggestions that he persuaded her to withdraw one hundred thousand euro so they could buy a property in Bali together. Instead, he claims that Charlotte had at least six or seven properties. Then he thought that perhaps she could consider returning the money left by his mother.
Now you say you had no intentions of seducing Charlotte in February or March of twenty twelve, do you, mister Blum?
Oh? Or No.
Did you say to Charlotte that you would buy a house in Indonesia together for the two of you to live together.
No?
Why did you go to Bali with Charlotte?
Because because the airline have an offer from Amsterdam and she was interesting people everyone talked of Buddy and she says you wanted to go and see the place.
Had you been to Bali prior to twenty twelve?
Yes, I went there to Buddy before.
On How many occasions had you been to Bali prior to twenty twelve?
Two or three times?
One with Janet Oldenburg? Correct?
Yes, correct in.
Nineteen ninety nine, once in twenty eleven for a wedding. Correct, Yes, What other times have you been to Balley? Mister Blum?
I went to Bali earlier once twice I went there for a holiday.
Did you own property in Bali?
Never have?
In twenty twelve, did you tell Charlotte that you owned property in Bali?
No? Why would I do that?
You say you didn't.
No.
Did you persuade Charlotte to withdraw one hundred thousand euros from her accounts in Belgium? I did in order to purchase a property in Bali with.
You I didn't personally ask for anything. I just said that I have that receipt from her husband and that I would have liked maybe she would deposit, considering that she had I don't know, at least six or seven properties. Considering all that that she could be annoyed that she knew, but the letter of her husband that she would probably maybe consider give me back the money of my mother.
Did Charlotte give you any money in February or March twenty twelve.
When we departed, she said she had the money for me, So I took that she she they were safe in the room of the hotel, and she put all of her precious things and the money in the safe and she was the only one with the access to whatever number it was to get to it.
And was this a safe in the hotel room in Bali?
Yes?
And how much money did you understand was in this safe in the hotel?
I understood she had one hundred thousand.
Dollars one hundred thousand euros.
One hundred thousand yeah, in Bali? Yeah?
And did she give you that one hundred thousand euros? Because of the issue you've just given evidence about relating to and perhaps the Sun.
No, she gave me an envelope when I was leaving, and I realized it was only half because only fifty thousand euros, I was not so happy about it. It's only after I let that I realized that it was only half the money. The money that I declare at perse airport when I arrived and was stolen from me later on the gold course when I went to change it.
Just so I'm very clear, mister Blum, you accept that Charlotte gave you fifty thousand euros and that you entered Australia with fifty thousand euros exactly? Would you agree with me? For you, at least fifty thousand euros is a substantial sum of money.
Yes.
Do you understand why it was? She did not transfer that sum of money to your bank account?
Which bank?
The bank account you held with the Commonwealth Bank in twenty twelve.
No, she I don't know. She went to her bank withdrew the money. That's what she told me, and she told me to give me, But in fact I was only given a novelope with fifty thousand euros.
Do you know why she felt the need to travel from Belgium to Bali with such a substantial amount of money instead of just transferring it to you from Belgium to your account in Australia.
I know that was the way she did it. No, no, no, no, you know.
Could it be, mister Blam.
Maybe it's because she already thought of giving me fifty thousand euro and therefore she didn't want to declare the bank. Yeah, I don't know.
Could it be, mister Blum, that you suggested to Charlotte that she withdraw one hundred thousand euros from her account in Belgium and to take it to Bali to purchase a property.
No, no, mister Bloom appears to have very good recall for what he says he did and did not do. Mister Castleton questions him about the twenty five thousand euros worth of jewelry Charlotte says he took from her, which he denies. Despite being owed one hundred thousand euros, Mister Bloom says he accepted fifty thousand euros in cash in an envelope, which was then stolen from him at Pacific Fair shopping center on the Gold Coast, where he planned
to change the euros to Australian dollars. When reporting the alleged twenty twelve robbery to police, mister Bloom told them his family in Europe gave him the money for a prostrate operation. That is confusing, the same fifty thousand euros, according to mister Bloom, seems to have had several different purposes.
Now you've given three versions, mister Blum, about the fifty thousand euros you declared on a rival to Perth on the twenty ninth of March twenty twelve. First you say on oath it's an inheritance. Secondly you say on oath today it was the compensation owed to you by your cousin and perhaps his son. And you have given a version to Queensland Police that it was for a prostate operation. Mister Blum, which of the three is correct?
I object?
Matthew White, the barrister representing mister Bloom, raises another objection.
Your honor.
The evidence today, in my submission, was that it was an inheritance. It wasn't compensation, and it wasn't owed by someone. It was money that had been invested, mister Blum said, by the mother. There was a receipt for the money
he gave. That receipt and in discussions in some form it was suggested that she consider that he be given some of that inheritance, and he said he eventually got the fifty thousand euro In balley, mister Counslon makes the point that he is only putting to mister Bloom what he has previously said.
When Bloom responds, he says that maybe there is a misunderstanding over the meaning of the French word compensasson. Yet there is a separate word in French for inheritance, les detage. Mister Castleeden then points out that mister Bloom's wife, Diane, gave evidence under oath that she was completely unaware of
any inheritance for her husband. As the afternoon wears on, so does mister Casseleden, turning to mister Bloom's relationship with Glaine Dubois d'An lois in two thousand and six, did you have.
Any discussions with Jelaine of getting engaged or getting married, mister Blum. No, no discussions whatsoever of being engaged to marry.
No.
And you're quite certain of that today that you never discussed engagement with Jelaine d'An noises. You'll need to keep your voice up, please, mister Blum.
I don't remember this. No.
I want to suggest to you that you would remember that, wouldn't you, because you were married to Diane at the time. I want to show you a document, please, mister Blum. You can read French. Yes, take a moment to read quietly to yourself the document I have opened for you.
It is the document Allison provided to police the previous day when they took a statement from her.
And you see there it's a document that says, Julaane Danois. You see that at the top and do you see the next line is very happy to announce her engagement to Frederic D'HEADEVERI do you see that? Do you see that? Mister Blum?
Ah?
Yes, yes, rather suggests, does it not that Julaine Danois thought she was engaged to Frederic D'HEADAVERI correct.
I can't injudice, Yes, but I never seen that.
And I want to suggest to you that Julaane Danois provided that document recently, and then it has been provided to those assisting her honor today. Yes, were you engaged to be married to Julaane Danois in two thousand and six?
No?
I want to suggest to you you were, mister Blum, and that your denials are alie.
No, I've never seen that notice.
Did you have any discussions in May and June of two thousand and six with Julaine Danoix as to where you may hold an engagement party? No, so you're very clear, mister Blum. I'm suggesting that your evidence today of denying having any discussions with Julaane Danois about engagement to marry are false.
Yes, you agree with me. Do you never seen that? I've never participated or anything of that. That's all. That's all I know. I don't remember such a thing, never seen it.
Never could you have been caught out in a lie, mister Blum, about your denials of being engaged to marry Julaane Danoix.
I was never engaged. How could I be engaged? I was never never engaged. I was never never engaged.
Were you engaged to Florabella Remichel in nineteen ninety seven, mister Blum?
No? No.
Now is the time for you to be full and frank about your interactions with Marion Barter in nineteen ninety seven. Is there anything you wish to say that you have not already said in relation to the disappearance of Marian Barter.
What what could I You.
Don't know what became of Marion Barter.
I myself believe that she's still alive, but I don't know anything about where she is, or abouts or nothing at all.
Your honor. That concludes my examination.
Coroner Teresa O'Sullivan has some of her own questions.
Thank you, mister Castle and mister Bloom. Why do you believe Marian is still alive.
Because she I can't tell you exactly when. But in a conversation before she went to England, she said that she wanted to separate from her family. She didn't want anything to do with any mum of her family. She was a bit of a strange person, all right.
Can I just ask you where you were when she said that to you?
When she said that to me, it was in her place.
In her house, in her house, yes, whereabouts?
Was that in Queensland? Our country? Remember the name of the suburb. She said she had enough of her family and she didn't want she she was. I explained to mister White before that she was strange in a way, that whatever she did, he was strange in the way she dressed, She was strange.
Again the coroner inter.
Runs'll cut you off there, mister Bloom. It's not really assisting in what I need to find out.
That brief interchange may prove crucial, as you will soon hear. It's now the of Sally Leyden's barrister Bradley Smith, to ask mister Blum a few questions. Mister Smith is not in the court at Lismore. He's in his office in Sydney, appearing via video link.
At any point in two thousand and six, did you have any interest in poisons.
As you know, I was interested in poison. No, no, not in poison. I don't know anything about poison, and all I know is like everybody else has a domestic poison. But my interest are always reading that history history, yes, but poisoned no well.
Glaine Danoix gave evidence yesterday that in two thousand and six you would often discuss with her your interest in poisons. Do you say that was false?
It's a lie. Yes.
Also got evidence yesterday that you persuaded her to withdraw funds from her bank account, and then on each OC case and she did withdraw funds, you attended the bank with her. That's true. Isn't it.
Never been in a bank with her? Never? Never?
Is that an almost answer, mister Bloom?
Sorry?
Is that an almost answer, mister Bloom.
Yes, it's an honest answer. The only place I went when we there was what they call an agance. That's the only place.
Given in a currency exchange bureau.
No argance. It is somebody that you invest money in in shares. It's not actually cash involved, it's all paper. You can't do anything banking without any record at the bank, especially in Europe there, whatever you do with the bank, you got to be able to justify with your V eighteen number and whatever.
What would you go to a share writeing with Gelaine Demoi?
Yeah? I went there because she told me that's what she was. I wanted to go with her, but I didn't participate in anything. She just told me towards agen, that's all.
So you stayed at that house for how long I stayed.
At her house About roughly a fortnight, But I was staying the university. I only was visiting her, and I stayed there a few days.
And on one of those few days when you visited her, she said she was going to a share agent and you went with her. Is that your evidence?
Yes, that's correct.
Why did she ask you to go with her?
Why?
Why did she ask you to go with her?
I don't know. She just you know, you got for a coffee or whatever. I just I just went with her. But there's no transaction possible there or.
Was the name of the share agent Damien and sons don't remember? And you didn't go to the share agent with miss Daranoix because you had persuaded her to exchange shares that she owned for cash.
You can't do that. You can't, so regulations set up there in brassets you can't do that.
So the answer is no. Sorry is the answer?
No?
No, Yes, you can't do that.
And it's correct. Isn't it that you suggested to miss dear Noir that she should apply for an international driver's license before moving to Australia with you?
No?
Well, in two thousand and six, you are familiar with international driver's licenses, weren't you? Sorry, in two thousand and six, you were familiar with international driver's licenses, weren't you?
All I knew is to get an international driver's license. I got every time I left Australia, I took the I went to the on NRM and got an international driver's license. That's what people do.
And you'd agree with me. You've left Australia numerous times, haven't you. Yes, So you've applied for an international driver's license numerous times.
Yes.
So you were very familiar in two thousand and six with international driver's licenses.
Weren't you in Australia.
Well, it's the isn't it that you obtained an international driver's license in the name of Fernande Ramakal in Luxembourg? Correct? Yes, And that was a false international driver's license. Correct.
Well, I've just been this. It's it's not government, it's not an official thing. It's done by by autokler.
But you weren't Fernande Ramacal when you applied for that international driver's license.
Were you?
Yeah?
Yes, you use Fernande Ramakall's identity to obtain that international driver's license correct, Yes, and then you use the international driver's license to obtain a Queensland driver's license in that name correct, correct. So, and you did those things prior to two thousand and six.
Correct, don't remember.
I want to suggest to you that again, in light of what we've just discussed, that you suggested to Glain Dan Why in two thousand and six that she should obtain an international driver's license before moving to Australia with you, Do you agree No?
I never discussed driver's license with Gilen.
And I want to suggest to you that you also persuaded Marian Barter to apply for an international driver's license in the name Flora Bella Natalia Marion Ramicol in nineteen ninety seven.
Do you agree No, she organized that with her dentist.
Pausing briefly here, we first told you in episode fourteen that Marian had a dentist confirm her photograph ID for her passport application, but we didn't know that this same dentist was also asked by Marion to affirm her international driver's license. This is apparently new information we're hearing for the first time. What else might mister Bloom reveal?
But at the same time she did that in nineteen ninety seven, you had a Queensland driver's license in the name Fernande Knocholas Ramacol. Correct.
Yes, I had four setain time until it disappeared. It was stolen from me or I lost it. I don't know, because in the previous time I can't remember if it's in Ballina or barron By. I who repeats a question, Please.
Let's hear that again.
It was stolen from me or I lost it. I don't know because in the previous time I can't remember if it's in Ballina or Barron Bay. I one more time, because in the previous time, I can't remember if it's in Ballina or Barron By.
I, Ballena or Byron Bay. Rick Bloom lives in Ballina. When he was in a relationship with Marion in nineteen ninety seven, he lived at Wollongba. Marion lived at Southport. He claims they met up on the Gold Coast. We've identified fifteen different places that mister Bloom has lived in in Australia in four states. He has not lived in or ever mentioned visiting Byron Bay. It's interesting too that
he would mention it during this line of questioning. Marian was reported missing in Byron Bay after her daughter Sally, discovered her life's savings were being withdrawn from her bank account in Byron Bay, including a final large withdrawal of eighty thousand dollars. For such a transaction, she would have needed identification. Her account was in the name Marion Barter,
but her new legal name was Florabella Remichel. If there was any potential confusion over the new identity, Marian had both a passport and an international driver's license in her new name with her photo and or signature. We know she had a driver's license when she applied for her new passport because she ticked the box for ID documents and wrote int license. So was Rick Bloom in Byron Bay Was what he just said a misstep? Did he simply make a mistake or did he just inadvertently reveal
a crucial piece of evidence? Now mister Smith turns to another perplexing Mistruth. Mister Bloom has committed to the official record.
Do you see there an incoming passenger card, mister Bloom?
Yeah?
And you see in the bottom half of the right hand side the letters see inside a black circle resident returning to Australia. Yes, and then the country you spent most time abroad? Do you see that?
Yeah?
Do you agree you filled out this card?
Yes?
And you see the date twenty ninth of March twenty twelve what it says, yes, which is the date I was just putting to you earlier. Yes, and you see that you wrote the country where you spent most time abroad as Germany.
Yes.
Now, if you spend your time in Belgium and France, what did you write on this card? It spent most of your time in Germany.
Where I spent some time in Germany, yes, but I can't remember.
Well, do you remember I asked you before? Did you spend time in any other countries?
But I went to Germany because I had to catch my flight to return home. I spent time in Liege, which is a city in Belgium, and from there I took the trend to Frankfurt, where I caught my flag back home.
Do you agree that that doesn't explain why you've written that you spend most of your time abroad in Germany.
Well, I can't give you an explanation. It's the explanation spend time in Belgium. I spent time in Germany, Yes, I did. What's so special about.
It's the explanation that you had to fall of one hundred thousand euros and you were a tempting to cover your tracks by not stating that you'd spend most of your time in Belgium.
I spend time because I have people to see, my family, to see her. I spend time in the various places.
What was what?
I don't know. I don't understand.
Throughout this inquest, Salley's lawyer Brad Smith has raised some crucial points through his questions and he's about to do it again.
At the time Marion Barter applied for an international driver's license in the name Flora Bella Natalia Marion Remaco in nineteen ninety seven, you had a Queensland driver's license in the name Fernande Knoculus Remaco.
Correct, Yes, and that was stolen from me. I never never used it. That was in my pocket and it was I don't know what was tolen or I lost it.
I want to suggest to you, but.
With what happened, I believe that she took it because license. If I remember from last time, the license was renewed and I never never renew it.
I want to suggest to you that you've persuaded Marian Bartered to apply for that international driver's license on the pretext that she would become Missus Ramacal in your new life together overseas.
Do you agree, No, sir, she arranged all these things were arranged with her dentist which I never met.
And is it correct that you just to put to you squarely the evidence you've just given that Marian took your Queensland driver's license in the name Fernande Naculist Ramical and arranged her international driver's license with a dentist without your knowledge is a lie?
No, it's not.
Is it correct that you last saw Gelaine dear Nois in September two thousand and six.
Yes, I can't remember, she.
Says, the last time she saw you was in September two thousand and six. Does that sound right to you?
It may be the case, but I don't remember, and you accept it. I think I answered the question already to mister Castleton.
Yes, what you accepted from mister Castleton was that you returned to Australia on the fourteenth of September two thousand and six.
Correct, Yeah, And.
I want you to assume for me that your incoming passenger car when you return to Australia on the fourteenth of September two thousand and six. The answer to the question are you bringing into Australia ten thousand dollars or more in Australian or foreign currency equivalent. You circled yes.
Yes.
I want to suggest to you that the more than ten thousand Australian dollars or equivalent of cash that you were bringing into Australia was money you had stolen from Gallain dan Mois. No, no, no, where was the more than ten thousand dollars you brought back into Australia on the fourteenth of September two thousand and six from.
Because from my family every time, every time I came back to Australia, always hard to set an amount of money coming from my family, but I never always always declare every everything, always.
Well, you accepted. In April last year, I said to you, is your evidence that you were collecting about one thousand Australian dollars from the account at Ahman in Europe? And you said, I said before, I sometimes take more. Yes, And I said, but on average, And you said on average on average. I remember that I declared in Sydney once seventeen thousand dollars. And I remember that I declared in Perth once, No, seventeen thousand euros, sorry, And I
declared once in Perth fifty thousand euros, I think. And that was the last bit of my inheritance. Do you say to her honor that these funds you declared in September two thousand and six were part of your inheritance?
Yes, that's all it was. Is that true, mister Blom, Yes, it is true. I was fortunate.
And did you open a safety deposit box at the Commonwealth Bank six days later? On the twenty eighth of September two thousand and six.
I can't remembers date. At the common Worst Bank, I had a number up with because there were lots of like, there were lots of people stealing things. And I have an envelope which with the title of the house, the thejurary of my family, and a few mementos, and an envelope that was about twelve to fifteen centimeters wide and probably twenty centimeters long. You can't put a lot of
things in. And because I had that envelope, and later on a security box or whatever you call it become available and I was given to me.
I want to suggest to you that you opened a safety deposit box or the Commonwealth Bank six days after you return from the trip where you spent time with Galine to deposit money. You would stolen. Do you agree?
And how do you go through? You are at the airport and you're going in one of those cabin where everything is you you photograph it. You go in one of the scanners. And if I had anything that I didn't declare, then now I'd be reported. You can't be you can't. I don't know how you travel, but you can't come to Australia these days with going it's an automatic cabin that you walk in and they know everything
you've got on you. I don't know if you're familiar with the process, but that's the way it is, and that's the way I arrived in purse and I declare, declare the money I had, because you can't do otherwise. They know before even you declare, they know you've got it.
After almost five hours, the day is drawing to a close. Mister Smith turns his attention to Marion Barter.
Arising from the evidence of Gelaine dar Noi that you persuaded her to withdraw money from her bank account and the evidence of that you persuade had her to withdraw money from her bank account. Did you persuade Marian Barter to withdraw funds from her bank account? Between August and October nineteen ninety seven.
No, sir, never had a penny from Marion Barter.
Never did you persuade her to withdraw eighty thousand dollars from her bank account on or about the fifteenth of October nineteen ninety seven in Barron Bay. No, sir, in the period August to October nineteen ninety seven, did you deceive Marian Barter in any way for your own financial advantage?
Sir?
When you gave evidence earlier that Marian told you she wanted to separate from her family, that was a lie, wasn't it, sir? And you agree with me. You've been asked on a number of occasions previously in this inquest if you know what happened to Marian Barter.
I don't know.
And you never before today said anything to that effect that she wanted to separate from her family in answer to any of these questions, did.
You, because that's the conversation she had.
Thank you, your honor, No further questions.
Mister Smith has hit upon a crucial point which the other lawyers in the court will soon grasp. It is the end of day two. Rick Bloom has one more day before the Coroner.
It's another crisp winter's morning in Lismore as people again packed the public gallery at the local Court for day three of this tranch of proceedings. At ten am, hundreds of people are waiting online for live streaming to begin for what's expected to be the final day of evidence, although of course we've heard that before this time. Rick Blum appears via video link, seated beside his council Matthew White. He's wearing a zipped up tracksuit jacket gray and blue
with a white stripe. While he looks tired, he appears more comfortable than he did yesterday when he was seated in the witness stand in the courtroom. Questioning begins with Adam Caussenden taking up point raised two days earlier by witness Andre Flumm. She'd said, mister Blum or she knew him Frederic de Heniveri maintained a bank account in Belgium when she knew him in twenty ten. Mister Blum responded to a series of questions with a lot of stumbling
and stuttering. It's a very drawn out process, but ultimately he denies any suggestion that he had held any bank account in any part of Europe since around nineteen eighty five.
I want to come now to some evidence you gave yesterday in answer to a question from Her Honor.
Suddenly the reporters and people in the public gallery are attentive, as though they can tell there is something important about to be raised.
At the conclusion of my examination of you yesterday, I asked you this question, mister Blum, would you like to say anything further in relation to the disappearance of Marian Barter? And you answered no, what could I say? I then asked you you don't know what became of Marion Barter, and you answered, I, myself believe that she's still alive. That's what I believe. But I don't know anything about
what she did, or whereabouts, or nothing at all. Then Her Honor asked you, mister Blum, why do you believe Marian is still alive, to which you answered because she I can't tell you exactly when. But and in a conversation before she went to England, she said that she wants to separate from her family. She didn't want anything to do with any member of her family. She was a bit of a strange person, to which Her Honor then asked you. Can I ask you where were you
when she said that to you? You answered, when she said that to me, it was in her place. Her honor then asked you in her house? You responded yeah, And then her honor asked you whereabouts?
Was that?
You then respond in Queensland. I can't remember the name of the suburb. But she said that she's had enough of her family. Do you remember giving that evidence yesterday, mister Blum.
Mister Bloom does remember giving that evidence. So Adam Casselton probes further.
Can I ask you, are you able to give more detail about which visit you had with Marion in nineteen ninety seven when she said those matters to you? Was it the first occasion you met with her in Southport, the second occasion there in Southport or the third occasion that you met with her?
I can't remember.
And are you sure that she said those words to you in Queensland or could it have been to you here in New South Wales?
No?
No, No, it was it was It was in Queensland.
And how did that conversation come about, mister Blum?
It was a genial, genial general discussion. But I can't remember you.
Can't give any more context as to how was she came to say those matters about abandoning her family.
No, no, no, no, would you agree with me?
Throughout the course of your evidence in this inquest, you have rarely descended into that level of detail in relation to your interaction with Marion Barter.
What do you want me to say?
Well? Do you agree or disagree with what I've just suggested to you, mister Blum, I just.
Said, remember that particular thing that she said, But that was all I wasn't, you know, I wasn't particularly particularly interested in anything of that kind, So I I found I can't remember she made that that point that I thought was probably a bit a bit strange.
Mister Bloom denies suggestions that the new evidence he has suddenly remembered about a conversation with Marion Barter is a lie. He becomes befuddled and again stutters and stumbles repeatedly when mister Casselon asks him whether he realizes how important this information is.
I can understand that, but I can't. I can't, I can't. I don't so many years ago, I don't remember.
I have to ask why you did not volunteer that information to New South Wales Police when you first spoke to them about Marian's disappearance in June of twenty twenty.
One, because because they never do, they never ask anything about it. Then I just don't remember.
Mister Bloom, you knew in June of twenty twenty one that the police wished to question you in relation to your interaction with Marion Barter because she was a missing person. Is that correct?
Yeah?
And if I can return to my earlier question, in those circumstances, why did you not volunteer the information which you have disclosed here to the New South Wales Police.
Will spare you any more of the bumbling responses because it goes on for some time. Mister Bloom does not have a definitive answer as to why he suddenly announced yesterday for the very first time that Marion Barter told him in nineteen ninety seven that she wanted to separate herself from her family, Yet he denies that he is
making it up. Mister Cassitin pointedly asks why such a conversation was not mentioned during mister Bloom's interview with police on September fourteenth, twenty twenty one, and why he did not mention it when prompted during court proceedings on February sixteen, twenty twenty two, and why he again failed to reveal the information when asked in April twenty twenty two about
whether he had any more information about Marion Barter. As he struggles to explain all of this, Rick Bloom appears to highlight his supposed cognitive decline by stuttering, I don't remember. That's how things work in my head. I do things now that I won't remember. This afternoon, I don't remember, and sometimes I remember. It continues along like this for a while before mister Casselton says this.
Could the reason you disclose that information only yesterday be because you know more about the disappearance of Marion Barter than you have previously let on, and you let down your guard yesterday. I suggest that you do know more than you are letting on about the whereabouts of Marion Barter. No, sir, no, I want to suggest to you, mister Bloom, that you know more about the whereabouts of Marion Barter than you have been letting on to her honor throughout the course
of her honors in quest. Do you accept that?
No, sir, no, I don't. I don't know anything anything about Marion Butter.
I have no further questions.
Once Adam Casselton sits down selling Leyden's lawyer, brand Smith again has questions, beginning with an invitation to mister Bloom to provide an answer.
I asked a similar question in April last year. Mister Bloom, if you do know anything, this is your time to answer.
I would have done it a long time ago. You put me under such pressure.
I don't remember so so you made up that evidence.
I never made up a story. But my but my head doesn't walk like yours. I have problems.
You know I act for Marion Barter's daughter. Yes, you know that she has been looking for her mother since nineteen ninety seven.
Mister Bloom responds with more stuttering.
So you can't provide any more information as to what happened to Marion Barter.
I can't prove how would I know she was living her life? I wasn't seeing what do you want me to see?
It is here that questioning ends. More documents attended before the court is adjourned. This public hearing is over, but the inquest is not. Coroner Teresa O'Sullivan's findings are still to be delivered at a date to be advised.
Once the public gallery has emptied and media crews have dispersed, I catch up with Christina, who, as I've mentioned, has come from the UK for this in quest about We chat about what we've heard and seen over the past few days.
I think today the pretty big thing was that what he's claiming about what Marian said in nineteen ninety seven about wanting to disown a farm or not have anything to do with them, which of course we know he hasn't mentioned before, and as far as I know, in twenty twenty one when he gave his statement to the police, he didn't have those medical issues that have come on since then. So it's very questionable my view.
They talk about cognitive decline, right, but it does seem to be quite switched on still.
Well, it seems to fluctuate, doesn't it. Whether that's out of convenience.
Well more with the voice that fluctuates. But he seems to understand everything that's been put to him, right, Yeah.
He understands all the questions, and some he's able to answer extremely clearly. Usually when there's a backstory to be told, I find there isn't much speech impediment there when there's a story to be told. Ultimately, this is fact finding, isn't it. And the facts that needed, the evidence is needed. Clearly that's not going to come from.
Him, no, and all we can do is present the evidence as we have with all or as the the coroner's team has via New South Wales Police, and put that to him, give him a chance to explain it way up what seems more probable. And I mean I guess within a lot of criminal cases and coroner's cases that's what happens.
That must be why the coroner wants to hear all this additional information about these other women that have come forward with what's happened to them, because it creates a bigger picture.
The issue is here is that more information keeps coming out, but we can't definitely keep going with the coronial inquest when it's two years, Like it's been two years. That's a long time.
And if you just think of Sally and the effect that it has on her, it would be really good if there was some sort of end insight, not necessarily closure, but some end to this part of the proceeding so she can move on with the next stage.
Well, that's right, because the coroner does have the opportunity to refer it to the DPP if she thinks there's an indetable offense in relation to Marian's disappearance. So there are avenues that need to proceed. I mean, an inquest isn't going to conclude this investigation.
Absolutely, and you can only hope that some further action is taken after this and that there's some justice for Marian.
As she may recall, Christina was an avid listener of the podcast and quickly became a helper, doing whatever she could to help out with investigations in the UK. Recently, she's been writing letters to people in Burwash who live in the lane where Rick Blum then Frederick de HEAVERI lived with his wife, Diane and his children in the nineteen eighties, and amazingly she got a response from someone who remembers them.
She was very helpful and her memories of Rick and Diane from that time if you think that was the mid nineteen eighties, those memories were very vivid and it was almost as if she had been dying to talk to someone about this because she always wondered what became of them, and because she had some concerns about his behavior and his treatment of Diane. I think she was
concerned and she didn't know what became of them. So firstly, she was pleased to hear that Diane was okay for her welfare, and she was surprised that they were still married okay.
And when you say concerns, why was she concerned, like what evidence had been presented to her that Diane was being controlled?
Well.
Her observation of the family dynamic was that Rick had a lot of control over things within the family, down to the point of he would only put a limited amount of petrol in the car, so Diane couldn't travel very far. He only gave her a small amount of money to spend pocket money. He did all the shopping, He bought all the children's clothes. She wasn't able to buy the children's clothes. So she was living in isolation really,
and her life was the children. And she expressed to this woman that she was unhappy and she wanted to get out of the marriage, but because of threats from Rick that she would never see the children again, or that he would find them and take away the children, that she had no choice.
Some four years after the head of Aries moved away, this woman received a Christmas card from Diane. She remembers feeling relieved because Diane mentioned that she'd seen her parents, whom she had missed greatly while in England. Bizarrely, the woman still had the envelope that the card came in, with the postmark from Tasmania. Christina passed on the information, but the woman wants to remain anonymous, and she hasn't
been responding to emails lately. I turn our attention back to the inquest and wonder aloud, what might happen next.
It's just so surreal that we're here listening to this after all that time, and just the huge amount of information that's come out. It's quite overwhelmeding, really, isn't it. Some of it doesn't even seem real. But you have to step back and remember this is real, this is what happens, and clearly something has happened to Marian that's very serious. And I think it's just the thing to remember is that there's human beings involved with this, human hearts.
You know, this affects people's lives, and I think some of that can get lost sometimes in all the facts, But it's good to step back and think that.
I just gotta remember that absolutely. And you know, I was thinking, you know, people with Rick Lamy's looking so pathetic, I guess, and I don't mean that in the sense of sad and pathetic. When he was there yes day, an old man and he's stuttering and spluttering and everything, and he's eighty three. And then I think of these other women, Gilaine and Andre Flum, both in their nineties.
He just up in the middle of the night to give evidence against him, particularly Glaine, who was obviously in love with him.
Yeah.
It's sad, isn't it. There's some sad stories behind this, and it obviously still affects them now and it's still in their memory. So there is that element of sadness that they've been hurt or damaged in some way his actions. And there's potentially more.
They all have, haven't there. And that's the thing. Their stories are consistent, but he is not with their stories, if you know what I mean. He's the only one saying that's not true and calling them all layers.
Yeah, and what are the chances of that that all these women are lying and have made up all these stories? Because, as he said, that's the kind of women they are. Don't know what that means, but it's clear that they are nice, good people who didn't deserve that treatment.
As soon as we hear from the coroner, will let.
You know.
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