Rosemary Peake seeks warrant to remove Lloyd and Scott Day from Calliope property

A family feud over a deceased estate which has allegedly involved threats to kill has dragged on three-and-half years ago after their father’s death.

Ex horse breaker / stockman Des Day (74), and his horse. Photo taken 21 July 1999 by Rob Middenway.

A family feud over a deceased estate which allegedly involved threats to kill has dragged on with two of three parties failing to comply with court orders.

Rosemary Peake, the eldest of Calliope’s Desmond Day’s offspring, tried to communicate with her six half-siblings about the administration of the estate following Desmond’s death in July 2020, according to court documents about a Rockhampton District Court decision in October 2023.

After advice from the Public Trustee, and being ignored by most siblings, Ms Peake, 71, was granted permission by the court last year to sort out her father’s estate, which led to applications filed by two of her siblings – Lloyd and Scott Day, who have remained living at the estate’s main asset in Sutherland Street, Calliope.

The siblings sought further provisions from the estate, estimated to be worth about $440,000, however one joined too late and their joint application required the court’s permission to continue.

Judge Jeff Clarke in October ordered the brothers to vacate the estate land and remove all “personally owned belongings, without further delay” and that the property be sold to allow the estated to be divided up.

Lloyd had argued he should get the properties and his siblings – twins Paul and Scott, Leanne Pearce, Narelle Phillips, Brett Day and Ms Peake – should get nothing more.

Six months later, the brothers still reside at the Calliope property.

Ms Peake’s lawyer this week had an application heard in the Rockhampton District Court, seeking further orders to force the brothers out of the Calliope property which “bears the appearance of being inhabited by hoarders”.

They sought an enforcement warrant be issued to seize the property.

Judge Clarke adjourned the matter to May 21 to allow time for the brothers to respond to the application in court at the next mention.

‘ONE SHOT, ONE KILL...’

Judge Clarke, in the October decision, described the actions of Lloyd Day, 58, which included ignoring Ms Peake’s attempts, allegations doubting her paternity, abuse and threats to kill saying “one shot, one kill”, as “unnecessary and churlish”.

The decision outlined what the court had heard about those siblings, including that Brett suffered schizophrenia, mild intellectual disability and an acquired brain injury secondary to trauma from a car accident when he was a child.

Paul Day was injured while serving in the Australian Army and now receives a disability pension and lives in rental accommodation.

According to the decision, Scott had withdrawn $45,000 from Desmond’s account in the days following his death, leaving a balance of $13,600.

Other evidence provided to the court showed the Gladstone Regional Council rates were paid out Desmond’s account while he resided at a nursing home and after his death, along with insurance premiums which provided coverage for contents worth $215,500.

Ex horse breaker / stockman Des Day (74), and his horse. Photo taken 21 July 1999 by Rob Middenway.

The total amount withdrawn from Desmond’s account after his death was over $85,500 and included paying for groceries, alcohol, car registration, fuel, vehicle expenses, electricity, entertainment, including at the Calliope Country Club, and other cash withdrawals.

Meanwhile, it was claimed Desmond’s pension paid for his nursing home care from 2013 to his death.

The court document stated Scott had been on jobseeker payments since 2014.

He was paid a carer’s payment while he looked after his mother, who died in January 2016, and by this time, Desmond was living in a nursing home.

“He has continued to live rent free at the properties … deposed to owning vehicles, shares, a shed and ‘household contents’ worth $6000, and 16 firearms,” Judge Clarke wrote.

Scott discontinued his application and Judge Clarke ruled he was not entitled to any more from the estate.

‘A MORAL CLAIM TO INHERITANCE’

Lloyd, during a trial in the district court regarding this estate, said he worked “sporadically in plant operation on civil contracts”, owned an excavator and failed in starting his own business in 2020.

He has lived at the Calliope property rent free since 1999 and claims to “have a moral claim to inheritance on assurances given, contributed substantially in the provision of care, as well as providing substantial financial contributions and performing extensive labour on the properties,”, Judge Clarke wrote in his decision.

“There was no evidence tendered which supported (Lloyd’s) vague assertions about what he did for his parents, when he expended his financial contribution and when he performed the work, including earthmoving,” Judge Clarke said.

He said Lloyd claimed he did not have income during 2019-2021 financial years, but contradicted himself saying he had been contracted to do work in that period.

However, Judge Clarke said there was no evidence provided to back his claims about work, only a notebook about who and when he worked.

21 jul 1999 Pic Rob/Middenway – Ex horse breaker / stockman Des Day (74), is loved by his horses, he claims to have revealed the site of the shale oil deposit near Gladstone, in error in the /1950s – headshot aged man

HOUSE NOT LEGALLY HABITABLE; ‘INHABITED BY HOARDERS’

Lloyd also confirmed he had $150,000 to $200,000 “locked up” in a superannuation fund and co-jointly owns a block of land with his brother Paul for over 20 years with plans to build a shed on it and live in the shed, despite having lived at the Calliope properties “since he was born” and being unwilling to “allow” them to be sold and divided into seven.

An on-site independent valuation in April 2022 revealed the state of the properties, saying the house was in a “very poor condition” so bad it was not considered legally habitable, with heavy mould throughout the house, all internal doors removed, holes in walls and no cooking facilities installed.

“The photographs correlate with the valuer’s description the properties bear the appearance of being inhabited by hoarders,” Judge Clarke stated.

Lloyd claimed Paul had done the damage after he came out of the army.

Judge Clarke stated he was not persuaded there was an adequate or reasonable explanation for the delay and was prepared to “find the applicant has engaged in unconscionable conduct”, thwarting attempts to enter the properties to conduct an inventory of estate assets, even with police assistance and he has not disclosed the extent of the full assets of the estate, or their whereabouts, including a missing Lexus.