Melissa Caddick’s husband deleted text messages from his phone to hide from police that he smoked a joint with a friend the night his wife disappeared, her inquest has been told.
Anthony Koletti told the court he drove to a friend’s house on the evening of November 12, 2022, to get an “e-cigarette”.
“Was it in fact to smoke a joint?” counsel assisting Jason Downing SC asked.
“I don’t know … it’s possible,” Koletti said.
“You must remember,” Downing said.
“Let’s just say I did, what’s your point?” Koletti said.
“On a night you told us you were conducting searches throughout the day … you in fact went to smoke a joint with a friend,” Mr Downing said.
Koletti said he was concerned about his wife and accepted if he did it was to calm himself down.
The text messages exchanged with that friend were later deleted by Koletti before he handed his phone over to police to assist with their inquiries, Downing said.
Koletti said doing that must of had “something to do with marijuana”.
“Not that I know of,” he said.
Koletti’s evidence resumed today after he was asked to step down due to his distress and confusion.
Overnight he had been receiving ongoing abusive messages including one via LinkedIn, his lawyer Judy Swan said.
“Dodgy prick, I hope you get locked up,” it read.
The day Koletti says his wife left their Dover Heights, Sydney, house and never returned he texted her at 7.16am on November 12.
“Are you okay?” he wrote.
Soon after this, he found her iPhone in their walk-in wardrobe, he confirmed on Thursday, which “weirded” him out because she never left home without her phone.
At some point he noticed her keys, wallet, a bag full of files were also left behind, but can’t recall when.
“The only thing I can vividly remember is the phone.”
He didn’t leave the home that morning before 7.30am, he said, and was then taken to CCTV stills taken near the Dover Heights cliffs – previously shown and marked by Koletti in July last year.
Caddick’s black Mercedes appears to be located in the photograph.
“This is me looking for Melissa can’t confirm it’s me but looks like me,” he has scrawled above his initials.
The image is time-stamped at 6.55am on November 12.
“As you can see it’s all a bit of a blur,” Koletti says before adding his recollection is “quite hazy”.
“I don’t recall going anywhere,” he said.
In several different police reports and for weeks after Koletti maintained Caddick left the home in black exercise gear and silver Asics.
But after she failed to return he says he assumed she was meeting with a lawyer, or staying in a hotel before her court appearance the following day.
Downing asked why he insists she left in athletic wear if he later believed she was meeting with a lawyer.
Koletti said it was based on assumptions, but denied seeing her wearing them.
Meanwhile, Caddick’s brother Adam Grimley has said in an affidavit the family was “floored” counsel assisting seemed to be “going after” his brother-in-law.
He noted counsel seemed to be presenting “unverified gossip as fact” and said Koletti had suffered enormously from the loss of his wife, the shock of her misconduct and unsubstantiated accusations that followed.
In a statement to Deputy State Coroner Elizabeth Ryan on September 19, he described Koletti as an “extremely gentle and kind man” who remains a valued member of the family.
“I make this statement in response to the line of questioning taken by counsel assisting which suggests that my brother-in-law … could have harmed my sister or in some way be complicit in her disappearance”, Grimley said.
“The family categorically dismisses such ideas and are absolutely floored that counsel assisting seems to be going after Anthony and saying Anthony or police are to blame for Melissa’s disappearance.”
He noted counsel seemed to be presenting “unverified gossip as fact” and said Koletti had suffered enormously from the loss of his wife, the shock of her misconduct and unsubstantiated accusations that followed.
The statement was tendered in court before Koletti was called to give evidence this week but was asked to step down due to his confusion and distress on Wednesday.
Earlier he told counsel assisting Jason Downing SC that on the morning of November 12, 2020 when Caddick disappeared he assumed she had gone out to exercise.
“I didn’t think anything of it … she’s just gone for a walk which she does every day, not a problem,” he told police in an interview.
In evidence Koletti agreed his wife had no habits, her exercise regime was irregular and she mostly jogged on the treadmill.
Downing continued questioning Koletti on Wednesday about this inconsistency, asking if he was now trying to justify his answers.
“One of the accounts must not be true,” Downing said.
“I’m guessing so, yes,” Koletti said.
“Why are you guessing?” Downing said.
“Because your questions are confusing, the way you talk is not the way my mind works,” Koletti said.
Ryan eventually asked Koletti to leave the witness box, saying she relied on him being able to focus on the questions and respond truthfully.
Koletti returned to give evidence today.
Inside fraudster Melissa Caddick’s luxury home
An examination of goose barnacles found on the foot show it was likely floating off the coast for three to seven days before washing up on Bournda beach – some 400km from Caddick’s Dover Heights mansion.
Oceanographer David Griffin said it was possible her body entered the water when she was last seen in November 2020, then floated close to the ocean floor in strong currents for about 93 days before resurfacing in February 2021.
“The NSW coast is the most energetic oceanographic part of Australia,” he said.
“It is highly unlikely anything can just drift along the continental shelf without getting caught or snagged.”
