Marion Barter: Missing mum inquest extended
An inquest into the presumed death of Queensland mother of two Marion Barter will hold extra hearings to examine new evidence.
An inquest into the presumed death of Queensland mother of two Marion Barter will hold extra hearings to examine fresh evidence.
More than three months after NSW State Coroner Teresa O’Sullivan was due to deliver findings in the case, it was revealed late on Monday that new hearings would be held in May.
Ms O’Sullivan postponed her findings last November amid further allegations of wrongdoing against convicted conman Ric Blum, who has admitted to an affair with Barter before she vanished in 1997 but emphatically denied any involvement in her disappearance. Five women have independently gone to police about Mr Blum since Barter went missing, accusing him of deceiving and stealing from them.
“A three-day hearing before State Coroner Theresa O’Sullivan will commence on 31 May, 2023, at 10am in Lismore Court,” a court spokesman said.
One alleged victim, Belgian widow Ghislaine Danlois, went public just weeks before the inquest findings were to be handed down.
She said Mr Blum, using the name Frederick De Hedervary, took €70,000 from her in 2006 after responding to a personal ad she placed in a newspaper in Belgium.
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She was 72 at the time, and said she thought they were going to spend the rest of their lives together.
Ms Danlois went to police but no charges eventuated.
Another Belgian widow, known by the pseudonym “Charlotte”, spoke in February about developing a close relationship with Mr Blum after the death of her husband in 2011.
In 2012 Mr Blum, her late husband’s cousin, suggested they buy a house in Bali together, splitting the purchase price of €200,000.
The woman, aged in her 60s, said she went to a bank and withdrew her share for the house, giving Mr Blum the cash.
They flew to Bali to finish the deal, but after booking the woman into a wellness program, Mr Blum went off to a purported business meeting and never returned.
She said she was robbed of almost €150,000 in total.
“He even picked out the hair colour for me, because I didn’t know any English,” she said.
“My tickets and passport and some cash were in the safe in the hotel room, but he had the combination.”
A complaint that year to Belgian police brought no result.
Mr Blum, now 83 and living in Ballina in northern NSW, was able to become an Australian citizen in 1976 despite a serious criminal history that included a four-year prison term in France for fraud.
Both Ms Danlois and Charlotte spoke to Luxemburger Wort and Luxembourg Times.
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