Brian Attwell, 73, and his son leave the Albany Courthouse, where he is fighting a charge of attempting to hire a hitman to kill his estranged daughter-in-law. Picture: AAP Source: AAP
A WEALTHY, elderly businessman claims he paid $10,000 for his estranged daughter-in-law to be given "a good dressing down" and his instructions to have her strangled was "all huff and puff".
Brian Vincent Attwell, 73, gave testimony on the third day of his trial in Albany Courthouse yesterday, charged with the rare offence of attempting to procure the commission of a crime.
The state argues Attwell offered a man he didn't know was an undercover policeman $30,000 to kill Michelle Patreena Attwell, who the AD Contractors managing director despised intensely because he claimed she had cost his family $1 million during a protracted, bitter legal dispute involving property.
The court heard earlier this week that Attwell told the man named "Josh" - who he met twice at a beach near his intended target's home - that he wanted him to "strangle the f***ing thing, get rid of her" after binding her up with duct tape.
On Wednesday, the accused man admitted he had said that, but didn't know if he would have been taken seriously and was just frustrated. Attwell said he just wanted her menaced by the "mean looking bastard" and had no idea what Josh was going to do to Ms Attwell, but hoped he could help out with the ongoing legal battle.
"He could have done anything - within reason," Attwell said. "He might pull her into her senses, wake her up a bit, might frighten her." While Attwell had made the down payment, given her address and described her height and approximate age, he hadn't provided a photograph so it was a "chance in a million" that Josh would find her.
"So you passed $10,000 to someone for huff and puff?," prosecutor James MacTaggart asked.
"That's it," came Attwell's reply.
Asked whether he thought it was appropriate for a large, fit man to menace a middle-aged woman, the accused said: "I think that's quite okay." And quizzed about telling the policeman that he got to the stage where "this f***ing thing should get off the face of the earth", he said he didn't have a problem with saying that.
He brushed off tendered evidence - a newspaper clipping of the Corryn Rayney case about how she was buried at Perth's Kings Park - saying it was correct the article was found in his car but that information was "public knowledge".
It was "hearsay" that he wanted his son's ex-wife buried the same way, he said.
Attwell called his intended target greedy and "a pain in the arse", and said he was not the only person around town who viewed her as a "maggot".
The trial continues today.
SOURCE;NEWS
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