Carer’s court confession: David Rofe and I had a secret, intimate relationship

Carer battling alongside Kathy Jackson over David Rofe’s $30m estate says he and the silk were in an intimate relationship.

Former union boss Kathy Jackson waits to give evidence at the Supreme Court in Sydney. Picture: John Feder

A carer who is battling alongside former union chief Kathy Jackson for a big slice of Sydney barrister David Rofe’s $30m estate has revealed he was in a secret and “intimate relationship” with the prominent silk for nearly 20 years, a court has heard.

An ugly showdown is being fought in the NSW Supreme Court where a dozen people, including Rofe’s carer and apparent lover Gregg Hele, the barrister’s nephew Philip Rofe and estate executor and former Health Services Union chief Kathy Jackson, are squabbling over how to divide his estate after they failed to reach a mediated settlement.

Rofe died aged 85 in July 2017 after suffering from advanced dementia. He wrote about 40 wills, two of which were compiled before his dementia diagnosis when some claim he was still of sound mind. The rest were written during the course of the next four years as his health deteriorated.

David Rofe with Kathy Jackson.

Ms Jackson, who admitted in a signed affidavit to personally typing Rofe’s final will in 2014, was left an inheritance worth 10 per cent, or $3m, while Mr Hele stands to receive 20 per cent of the estate, or about $6m.

On Tuesday, Mr Hele told the court he had been in a secret and “intimate” relationship with Rofe for nearly 20 years, spanning from the early 1980s to 2000.

When he moved into the ailing barrister’s home at Wombarra, south of Sydney in 2014, he said they “fell back in love” and their relationship became “very intimate” in the lead-up to Rofe’s death.

At the time of Rofe’s death, Mr Hele would have received $6m, although­ this sum is considered to have been reduced following capital­ gains tax payments, market falls and administration fees.

Mr Hele, who was being paid $10,000 a month by Rofe to care for him, also said he lied in a statutory declaration because he was “scared” of Philip Rofe. He said the nephew was a “homo­phobic” bully who had threatened to trash his reputation if he didn’t “exaggerate” the closeness of the pair’s relationship.

Philip Rofe. Picture: John Feder

Philip Rofe, historically Rofe’s closest nephew, was shut out of wills signed after his uncle’s dementia diagnosis.

Ms Jackson, who is expected to be first the witness to give evidence on Wednesday, is not one of the official parties bringing the inheritance battle to court but has been involved behind the scenes. At the time of Rofe’s death in July 2017, Ms Jackson was bankrupt.

In a signed affidavit, she confirmed she “made alterations” to Rofe’s wills by using his home computer and personally “typed” the final one in December 2014, which named her as an estate executor and left her an inheritance worth 10 per cent, or $3m.

Ms Jackson said she acted as Rofe’s “secretar­y/typist” for some time near the end of his life, and always acted “in accordance with David’s instructions”, including in late 2014 when she was asked to find the addresses of “residue beneficiaries” among relatives he wanted to include in his last will, according to the affidavit.

Ms Jackson met Rofe in May 2012 — almost two years after he was diagnosed with dementia — and developed a “close friendship” with the elderly barrister. Within two years, she became a beneficiary in his last wills.