Melissa Caddick inquest: Anthony Koletti gives his side after ‘exhausting’ day and lawyer confusion

Melissa Caddick’s husband has told her inquest he accepts his wife was a fraudster as he faced another day of brutal questioning that even included one lawyer suggesting Anthony Koletti had ‘completely lost the plot’. 

Mr Koletti returned to the NSW Coroners Court on Friday for a fourth day of evidence.

His return began with a dramatic moment when the senior counsel representing NSW Police was reprimanded by the coroner for a brutal line of questioning. 

Sydney Morning Herald reporter Kate McClymont posted the ruthless questions Lachlan Gyles, SC, had asked.

‘You’re not very numerate, are you? You didn’t win any academic prizes at school? You were at the bottom of your class, weren’t you?’ Mr Gyles asked Mr Koletti as he took the stand. 

Mr Gyles was ordered to stop asking Mr Koletti ‘leading questions’. 

Following the quick-fire start, Mr Koletti was taken to a statement he wrote to the court on July 2021 about the Australian Securities and Investments Commission’s search warrant.

‘I believe she died as a direct result of ASIC’s negligence, cruelty and inhumanity,’ Mr Koletti wrote.

‘Is that something you still say on your oath today?’ Dean Jordan SC on behalf of ASIC asked.

‘Yes,’ Mr Koletti said.

‘I suggest your maintenance of that assertion demonstrates your complete loss of objective perspective in relation to ASIC,’ Mr Jordan, said, adding it also showed he had ‘completely lost the plot’.

‘No,’ Mr Koletti said.

However, he did accept the search warrant was justified at the time.

For years Mr Koletti believed his wife was a ‘straight shooter,’ a competent and highly organised financial adviser.

But he now accepted the fact she was pretending to be honest and diligent while stealing millions from her family and friends.

‘You now accept you too were deceived by Ms Caddick?’ Mr Jordan said.

‘Yes,’ Mr Koletti said.

‘How did you eventually come to understand Ms Caddick was a fraudster?’ Mr Jordan asked.

‘By paying attention to the court proceedings and listening to Her Honour,’ Mr Koletti said.

He also wrote in a statement that he and Ms Caddick were denied food, water and medical attention they all ‘desperately needed for 14 hours during the search’.

On Friday he conceded this was not the case.

Ms Caddick’s family hold ASIC responsible for her disappearance, with her brother personally accusing Isabella Allen, the project manager of the investigation.

‘How do you feel being responsible for Melissa’s death,’ Adam Grimley told Ms Allen, she said in earlier evidence.

Ms Allen said she didn’t feel responsible as she was just doing her job.

Mr Koletti maintains he had no inkling his wife was defrauding family and friends of millions of dollars, nor did he ask her why federal police and ASIC were suddenly searching their Sydney eastern suburbs home on November 11, 2020.

It was the last verified sighting of Ms Caddick before she vanished without a trace.

Ms Caddick’s Ponzi scheme victims, mostly family and friends, lost $20-$30 million she used to fund her lavish lifestyle

In February 2021 her decomposing foot encased in a shoe washed ashore at Bournda Beach on the NSW south coast.

On Thursday forensic psychiatrist Dr Kerri Eagle said she had assessed Ms Caddick as having a ‘narcissistic personality disorder’ but emphasised the caveat of never having interviewed her, and purely basing her diagnosis on statements and other records.

Facing exposure as a fraud and not appearing as brilliant as she projected, the intense humiliation could cause her to feel there was no other outlet than suicide, Dr Eagle said.

The inquest continues.