Man posed as spy to con woman, court told
- AAP
- February 22, 2010
A MELBOURNE man posed as an ASIO agent to con nearly $150,000 from a woman, a court has heard.
Wayne Charters convinced Karen Roberts he was the man of her dreams by feigning an interest in her hobbies of dolphins, spirituality and art, prosecutors allege.
The pair married after knowing each other for just a few months, although Mr Charters did not love his wife, a Victorian County Court trial heard today.
Prosecutor Mark Gibson said Charters, 55, convinced Ms Roberts, 47, to sell her home, car and furniture on the guise that the couple needed to relocate overseas.
The money from the sales was placed into the couple's joint account from which Charters then withdrew it, the court heard.
Charters told Ms Roberts if they did not move to Canada, ASIO would send him to the Iraq war, Mr Gibson said.
He said Charters' "carefully planned, clever manipulations or mind games" were aimed at striking at Karen Roberts' heart strings so she would fall in love with him.
The couple went to Singapore for their honeymoon in 2003 but Ms Roberts returned to Australia with her daughter after three weeks, the court heard.
Charters returned to Australia in 2008, the jury was told.
He has pleaded not guilty to five counts of obtaining property by deception.
His lawyer Justin Wheelahan said his client "utterly denied" saying that he was called up to fight in Iraq for ASIO.
He said there were less exotic reasons why Ms Roberts wanted to sell her house and move overseas.
The trial before Judge James Montgomery is continuing.
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