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As the corporate watchdog and federal police turned Melissa Caddick’s mansion upside down searching for evidence of her alleged multimillion-dollar fraud, the businesswoman took an afternoon nap.
Earlier on that mid-November 2020 morning, Caddick had shown Australian Securities and Investments Commission (Asic) and federal police officers rows of earrings, bracelets, cufflinks and necklaces from luxury brands including Dior and Stefano Canturi. They were all seized from a safe, her inquest was told.
Two necklaces sporting dark sapphires and diamonds cost between $80,000 and $100,000 each, Caddick suggests on video shot at the time which was played at the NSW coroners court on Friday.
An officer asks if there are any particularly high-value items the police should know about in order to store them securely. “I’d say they are all high value,” Caddick replies.
The camera also pans across envelopes containing $US4,800 and others with Hong Kong dollars and UK pounds.
Australian federal police Const Amelia Griffen executed the search warrant on Caddick’s Dover Heights mansion on 11 November 2020.
Caddick answered the door about 6.07am when she was presented with search warrants for the property and her safety deposit box, the inquest was told.
Griffen spent the majority of the 12-hour raid with Caddick, who at times fetched herself food and drink from the kitchen. She ventured into the backyard “on multiple occasions”.
At one stage in the afternoon, Caddick lay down for a nap on her bed, Griffen confirmed on Friday.
Caddick’s parents and husband largely blame Asic for her subsequent disappearance and suspected death.
Barbara Grimely said her daughter was not offered food or drink and was highly distressed during the search, counsel assisting the coroner Jason Downing SC said in his opening address earlier this week.
Griffen said she spent “long periods” on the couch with Caddick and her husband Anthony Koletti.
“Did you observe anything in her behaviour … [that] caused you to hold concerns for her welfare?” junior counsel assisting the coroner Louise Coleman asked on Friday.
Griffen replied: “I’d only attended two search warrants previously, however it was normal – surprised, shocked, embarrassed by police presence.”
Koletti was also shocked but throughout the day became “more comfortable … became chatty”, providing reassurance and support for his wife, the court heard.
Early on, Griffen said she heard Koletti saying words to the affect of “It’s fine, it’ll be fine” and by the end of the day “he was always asking Melissa how she was”.
“I observed their relationship [and] that he was caring towards Ms Caddick.”
Two days later, Koletti called Griffen and said his wife was missing and she was planning on meeting with a lawyer and could be camped out in a hotel.
“[I] told him he should contact the police as soon as possible and contact friends and family to see if [Caddick] had contacted them,” Griffen said on Friday.
Solictor Judy Swan, acting on behalf of Koletti, said it was important during the raid that Caddick understood she was not under arrest. She asked Griffen if that was explained.
“At no point did I tell her she was under arrest,” Griffen said.
Earlier on Friday, Det Sgt Michael Foscholo told the inquest Apple data had raised questions as to whether someone was trying to externally access Caddick’s account.
They were also “following up on a potential pin data point at Sydney airport” on 13 November at 12.45am found on her Uber account. It is not known what NSW police officers found after investigating this data point.
The last verified sighting of Caddick was the raid on her house.
The next morning she was reportedly heard leaving in the early hours to go for a run. Koletti informed police she was missing about 30 hours later.
In February 2021, Caddick’s foot encased in a shoe washed ashore at Bournda Beach on the New South Wales south coast.
Her Ponzi scheme victims, mostly family and friends, lost $20 million to $30 million she used to fund her lavish lifestyle.
Some discrepancies were raised at the inquest earlier this week, including that Koletti told police he first became concerned his wife was missing when he noticed her phone in their walk-in wardrobe, saying he left a Post-It note and a gift beside it.
“Melissa we had everything taken from us. This is a gift for you,” the note allegedly read, with a pair of earrings “I had lying around,” Koletti said, according to Kyneur’s evidence on Tuesday.
But in his first account to police, Koletti said Caddick’s son had alerted him to her phone being in the common living area.
Koletti told police he texted the cleaner from his wife’s phone the day she disappeared to cancel the appointment. He pretended to be her, the inquest heard. He then phoned her “best friend” and her brother Adam Grimley but did not tell them Caddick was missing, to elicit “an honest answer”, he told Kyneur. Koletti has denied any involvement in her disappearance.
The inquest is due to break after Friday before Koletti is scheduled to give evidence on 26 September.
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