Peter Rex Dansie appeals conviction for 2017 murder of his wife, Helen, to High Court, stifling bid to protect her estate from him

A grieving son has been locked out of his fight to protect his mother’s legacy because her greed-driven murderer – his father – has appealed to the High Court.

Australia’s highest court has agreed to hear a greed-driven wife murderer’s challenge to his conviction – locking the couple’s son out of the battle to protect his beloved mother’s assets.

On Tuesday, the Supreme Court heard Peter Rex Dansie’s long-mooted High Court appeal over the drowning murder of his wife, Helen, has been scheduled for February next year.

It also heard that appeal has consequences for Dansie’s son Grant who has, for years, tried to stop his father spending Helen’s estate for his own benefit.

Graham Edmonds-Wilson SC, for Grant Dansie, said he now had to keep his own client in the dark about the estate at the request of the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions.

Peter Rex Dansie. Picture: Kelly Barnes.

“They are concerned that, if there is a retrial, our client should not be provided with information about the estate in case it impacts, in some way, with his role as a potential witness,” he said.

“That’s their position, and so we as counsel have undertaken that we will not provide that information to him.”

Dansie, 72, is serving a 25-year non-parole period for having pushed Helen, who used a wheelchair, into a CBD pond to drown in 2017.

He maintains it was an accident, but the trial court found he murdered Helen because she was “a burden” on Dansie’s finances that “he was no longer prepared to tolerate”.

Multiple witnesses gave evidence that Dansie considered Helen’s finances to be “his money” and was not prepared to spend it to improve her wellbeing.

Helen Dansie. Picture: Supplied.

Grant Dansie. Picture: Kelly Barnes.

Grant Dansie then sought control of two freehold rural properties in the South East and the family home at Waterfall Gully so his father could not sell them to fund appeals.

However, Dansie wants his half of the family fortune returned immediately, claiming it cannot be considered a proceed of his crime and he is being “punished twice”.

On Tuesday, Judge Graham Dart said it would be “premature” to progress Grant Dansie’s case before the High Court had made its decision.

He said it was best to wait and make rulings on property and assets later, otherwise the parties may have to “unscramble the egg”.

“At the moment, Peter Dansie is a convicted murderer – that may or may not change,” he said.

“I expect the law would not be overly encouraging of someone murdering their joint tenant in a property to become its complete owner.”

He adjourned the case until February.