Novy Chardon trial told accused wished wife would come home

For the first time since Novy Chardon went missing over six years ago, recordings of her husband John’s police interviews have been revealed at his murder trial.

John Chardon is accused of murdering wife Novy.

TWO weeks after his wife went missing, accused killer John Chardon told police he “didn’t do anything to her”.

In a police interview played today to the jury in his Brisbane Supreme Court murder trial, Chardon constantly goes off-topic when answering questions about what happened in the days after his wife went missing.

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Chardon has pleaded not guilty to murder.

In the explosive evidence heard for the first time since Novy Chardon went missing on February 6, 2013, Chardon tells detectives his wife was “flipping out” and “acting strange” the evening she disappeared.

The lubricant tycoon, who voluntarily participated in the interview with police on February 25, 2013, said he took a sleeping tablet the night Novy went missing and when he woke in the morning she was gone.

He said she had mumbled to him that evening when she got home around 9pm, saying she was going away.

John and Novy Chardon on their wedding day

Chardon said he “couldn’t remember exactly what she bloody said”.

“She turned around and looked at me and I can’t remember exactly whether she said to me ‘I’m going away’ or ‘I’ve got to go away’,” Chardon said in the interview.

He later said: “Honestly I think she just flipped out, she could be anywhere...”

Chardon told officers when he woke, Novy’s car, laptop and personal items were missing.

He later told detectives during the interview: “I don’t know where she is, i don’t know what’s happened to her, all I know is I didn’t do anything to her”.

Chardon tells police in the recording he tried to phone his wife the day after she disappeared.

The court heard the Gold Coast businessman had received an email from Novy’s lawyer about their separation about 3.30pm the day she went missing.

The jury has previously heard the email was about their divorce and distribution of assets.

“I said her: ‘I got a letter from your lawyer’ and I said: ‘I thought we had agreed on 50/50 for custody, right?’ And she just totally ignored me, which she used to do all the time, and that’s when she said: ‘I’ve got to go away’,” Chardon told police.

He said he had “no contact” with Novy after that evening.

“I tried to ring her phone for a couple of days, even the kids rang her, but it was going straight to message bank because the phone was switched off.”

Chardon tells police he thought Novy was wearing a pair of green “short shorts” the day she went missing.

“She always used to wear these bloody really tight shorts, like you see American hookers (wear) on TV,” he said.

“That’s why I noticed it... and I always said to her: ‘I wish you wouldn’t wear those because you always look like a hooker’.”

Novy was last seen more than six years ago.

She has not used her bank accounts, left the country or seen a doctor since that date but her body has never been found, crown prosecutor Mark Green told the court during the murder trial.

Novy’s car was found nearby the Nerang train station on about five days after she went missing.

The trial continues.

EARLIER:

ACCUSED murderer John Chardon told one of his employees he wished his missing wife would come home, a court has heard.

The lubricant tycoon is accused of killing Novy Chardon on or about February 6, 2013.

He has pleaded not guilty to her murder in Brisbane Supreme Court.

Novy was last seen on February 6, 2013.

She had not used her bank accounts, left the country or seen a doctor since that date, but her body had never been found, Crown prosecutor Mark Green told the court during the trial.

Her car was found nearby the Nerang train station about five days after she went missing.

Lubricant factory manager Colin Ford, who has worked for Chardon for the past 16 years, today told the court Chardon said to him on a number of occasions he wished Novy would come home.

“Because of the children,” Mr Ford said.

He also gave evidence about a box he allegedly found in the Loganholme premises belonging to Chardon in late 2012.

Mr Ford said he had been cleaning the factory one afternoon and came across an old cardboard box with loose tape.

“As I picked it up, it came open and there was the weapon inside,” he said.

Mr Ford told the court he saw a rusty barrel and handle of a gun inside the box, but it was covered with a cloth.

“I didn’t touch it... I took it upstairs,” he said.

“It had John’s name on the front of the box.”

The man also said he saw a number of bullets inside the box.

The court heard he gave the box to Chardon’s daughter Angela who was in the office of the factory.

Under cross-examination from defence barrister Tony Kimmins, Mr Ford conceded he could have assumed there was a gun inside the box.

The trial continues.