SA court told Wendie-Sue Dent sued the family of her alleged victim, David Lawrence, to claim his body before the funeral
Prosecutors say Wendie-Sue Dent poisoned her lover to claim his lucrative estate. Now his brother has told jurors she also wanted his corpse – and was prepared to sue to get her way.
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A woman who allegedly poisoned her lover to inherit his $300,000 estate sued his family, after his death, to stop his funeral and claim his body for herself, a court has heard.
The Supreme Court has also heard Wendie-Sue Dent’s family tried to block David Lawrence’s brother from entering his home, screaming “this is Wendie’s house now”.
Phillip Lawrence told jurors his late brother had dubbed the Dent family “bone lazy” but did handyman work for them in exchange for payment that never came.
He said Dent had showed him a will purportedly written by Mr Lawrence, which disinherited his family while misspelling their names.
“I said ‘I want to be blunt, quite blunt, that whoever’s written this will is a f---wit’,” he said.
“Wendie immediately said ‘are you calling my sister a f---wit?’.”
Dent, 61, of Dapto in NSW, has pleaded not guilty to murdering Mr Lawrence in his Morphett Vale home on or about December 2, 2015.
Prosecutors allege she poisoned him with medication – including 20, 100mg tablets of morphine – and falsified documents to make herself his sole beneficiary.
They have further alleged she offered his prized possessions to neighbours and friends in exchange for their support in claiming his estate.
In phone calls, Dent told friends that Mr Lawrence had died of “asbestosis”, and that the condition had “shredded” his internal organs.
She also says she had declined then-State Coroner Mark Johns’ offer of an inquest into David’s death because she “knew” he had been killed by “asbestosis”.
Giving evidence, Phillip Lawrence said Dent filed a lawsuit “requiring we stop the funeral, hand over David’s body and all coronial documents” after his death.
“I believe that Wendie had been told, by the coroner’s office, that she had no standing,” he said.
He said he had first learned of Dent in July 2014, when his brother left a family gathering earlier than planned.
“He said ‘I’ve had to rush back to rescue a woman from a rat-infested house’,” he said.
“He said she was a boarder and he had agreed to be her carer … he was obsessed with her issues, with her past, with the specifics of her life.”
He said that, upon his introduction to Dent, she claimed to have a “paralysed” and “totally useless” left arm – in which she often carried her dog.
She also claimed to have worked as a nursing unit manager at Flinders Hospital, an international art courier and the manager of a rock band.
Mr Lawrence said Dent also told his family she had once “been engaged to the heir of Johnston and Johnston”, a health care company “in Florida”.
He said that, after his brother’s death, Dent insisted David had “left everything to me” and, if he challenged the will, “the maximum you will get is $25”.
“On December 6, I went to the house … (her sister’s partner’s) arm came out the door, pushing me away, and he specifically said ‘f--- off, this is Wendie’s house now’,” he said.
“(Her sister) was inside screaming much louder ‘f--- off, this is Wendie’s house now’.”
The trial, before Justice Tim Stanley, continues.