Salt Creek monster Roman Heinze drops defamation lawsuit against his daughter Kendehl

A notorious criminal has abandoned his bid to sue his daughter - and been reprimanded by a magistrate for his actions.

Convicted backpacker kidnapper and self described “Salt Creek monster” Roman Heinze has finally dropped his defamation lawsuit against his own daughter after months of court hearings.

In the Adelaide Magistrates Court on Tuesday, Heinze agreed to withdraw his $65,000 claim against his daughter Kendehl - but insisted his bid to reclaim his personal property should continue.

Andrew Carpenter, for Kendehl, said Heinze had failed to follow any of the state’s lawsuit rules and so his remaining claim should be thrown out - and he should pay all of his daughter’s costs for both cases.

“Despite six months having passed, he has taken no steps to regularise this action, and my client has incurred ongoing costs because of his ongoing failure,” he said.

Kendehl Heinze and her legal team outside of Adelaide Magistrates court. Picture: RoyVPhotography

“We put him on notice from day one that we would be claiming costs.”

Heinze, 68, is funding a challenge to his 17-year-prison term with $100,000 obtained by threatening to sue his children over their inheritance.

After prison authorities banned him from sending abusive letters to Kendehl, he filed papers claiming she had defamed him by speaking publicly about his February 2016 crimes.

Previously, the court rejected Kendehl’s bid to have Heinze’s case thrown out, despite it having broken every rule about lawsuits, to protect his “right to be heard”.

A settlement conference followed, but was unsuccessful.

Roman Heinze.

Roman Heinze.

On Tuesday, Mr Carpenter said Heinze had been repeatedly asked to file documents, and been given multiple chances to do so, in order to comply with the rules and had failed to do so.

Heinze, who appeared by video link, told the court he “agreed to discontinue” his defamation suit but still wanted Kendehl to return his possessions.

“This is an ongoing, long-standing issue where Kendehl knows full well that I’ve been trying to get my stuff back since 2021,” he said.

Magistrate Maria Panagiotidis said that held little weight.

“That does not absolve you from making the pre-action notification, it doesn’t,” she said.

“You can’t just say ‘I’m special’ or ‘I’m different’.”

She said she would give Heinze one final chance to get his paperwork in order, and hear final argument in October.

“I appreciate you are unrepresented and that the legal tasks might nor be as easy for you as others, but there’s a limit to how long I can delay this,” she said.

“If you have not done it by next time, I will be of the view that I have given you adequate opportunity.”