Melissa Caddick’s husband agrees he gave conflicting evidence to police, journalists, inquest

Melissa Caddick’s husband says he didn’t ask the conwoman why she was being raided by fraud investigators but concedes he’s given conflicting accounts over her disappearance

Anthony Koletti arrives at the State Coroners Court in Lidcombe, Sydney. Picture: NCA Newswire/ Gaye Gerard

Melissa Caddick’s husband has conceded he’s given “conflicting evidence” to police, a television network and the inquest into his conwoman wife’s disappearance.

Anthony Koletti, a hairdresser and aspiring musician, also backtracked on a written statement he’d given police where he said he assumed Caddick had gone out for a run on the morning she disappeared on November 12 in 2020, which was part of her routine.

On Tuesday, Mr Koletti told the NSW State Coroner’s Court that Melissa had only run on a treadmill in the months before she disappeared and said his wife had no habits.

Mr Koletti said statements he’d made during an interview to Seven’s investigative program Spotlight, for which he was paid $150,000, were also incorrect.

When counsel assisting Jason Downing SC pressed Mr Koletti on the inconsistent accounts about the day his wife disappeared, he said he’d tried to give the best account he could.

“I’d been through a 12-hour raid (and) I was pretty shaken,” he said. “I can see how there’s conflicting evidence.”

Melissa Caddick and husband Anthony Koletti.

Caddick disappeared the day after investigators from corporate watchdog the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) and the Australian Federal Police raided her $15m mansion in Dover Heights on November 11 in 2020.

Her decomposing foot was found inside a designer sneaker on Bournda Beach, near Tathra, on the NSW south coast in February 2021.

Mr Koletti told Seven he’d stayed up until 4am writing music, but told the inquest on Tuesday he’d gone to sleep at about 9pm or 9.30pm after getting food from Charcoal Charlies.

The 40-year-old said he believed what he said to Seven was true when he made the comments because that was his habits at the time and said his answers to questions were his and not scripted by the network.

“I had just assumed that’s what I did because that’s what I usually do,” he said.

Mr Koletti has complained publicly, both in the television interview and songs he released on Spotify, about his wife’s treatment by ASIC.

When Mr Downing asked Mr Koletti if he knew, prior to his Caddick’s disappearance, that he only had a few hours left with his wife, he answered “No.”

When Mr Downing asked Mr Koletti if he’d asked his wife why ASIC investigators were raiding their home, he said he wasn’t overly concerned at that point.

“I don’t believe I was really worried about that because at that point in time I was just under the belief she’d done nothing wrong,” he said. He only realised Caddick had done something wrong during later court proceedings, he said.

He said he had given Caddick $70,000 in cash to help buy the house on Wallangra Rd.

The inquest continues.