Wealthy socialite leaves daughters '30 pieces of silver'

A FORMER Lady Mayoress has left her daughters $1.50 each from her $3.5 million estate because she believed they conspired over her mother's death.

A FORMER Adelaide Lady Mayoress bequeathed her three daughters ``thirty pieces of silver'' - or $1.50 - each from her $3.5 million estate because she believed they conspired over the death of her mother, court documents reveal.

Valmai Roche left the same amount to her ex-husband John Roche, a former property developer who was Adelaide  Lord Mayor from 1975-77,  claiming he had killed her mother.

Ms Roche's daughters say their mother was "delusional" and they have mounted joint Supreme Court action.

Before her death, Ms Roche's mother, Dorothy Maud Haber, was being cared for in a Plympton nursing home. The documents do not say how or when she died.

Ms Roche, who died last year aged 81, left "30 pieces of silver of the lowest denomination of currency"  or 30 five cent pieces  claiming it was "blood money due to Judas" to each of her daughters.

The daughters  Deborah Hamilton, Fiona Roche and Shauna Roche  were also left equal shares in their mother's jewellery, on condition they read and correctly answered questions relating to her personal diaries from January 1974 until the date of her will, which was signed in October 1981.

The will left the remainder of her estate to the Knights of the Southern Cross  a Catholic Church charity organisation for men.

Ms Roche also "specifically excludes" her children and former husband "from any further benefits" because her daughters "have been adequately provided for . . . and because of their estrangement" during her later years.

Mr Roche was excluded from further benefit due to the "irretrievable breakdown" of the couple's marriage, which ended in divorce in about November 1983.

Ms Roche made only one addition to her will. In 1987, she left a French Empire style desk to her daughter, Fiona.

Fiona Roche now heads the family's Roche Group of companies  a family empire which regularly appears in the BRW Rich 200 list.

Mrs Hamilton and Fiona Roche have jointly filed Supreme Court action contesting thewill. Their sister Shauna Roche is also listed as a defendant. Those documents reveal no formal valuation of Ms Roche's estate has been undertaken, but its value was estimated at $3.5 million.

Mrs Hamilton alleges her mother held "fixed, false and incorrigible views that she could not be reasoned out of" relating to the death of Mrs Haber.

Her statement of claim alleges Ms Roche believed her daughters had "aided, abetted and colluded" to kill Mrs Haber with Mr Roche when they were "in a position to prevent the death but failed to do so for financial gain" or alternatively "condoned the murder".

Ms Hamilton alleges her mother's "delusions" rendered her incapable of "making a reasonable and proper disposition of her estate".

As next of kin, the daughters claim they should be "entitled to inherit" their mother's estate.

The court documents reveal Ms Roche had made inquiries to change her will in 2007, but no new will could be found.

In her later years, Ms Roche was a voluntary euthanasia campaigner, who publicly revealed her wish to be able to take her own life in 2006. She said she would only commit suicide when already on the brink of death so she could die with dignity.

The court papers show she died of natural causes on March 11 last year.

When contacted yesterday, lawyers for the family said they would not comment on the case. The matter returns to court next month.