Plaintiff v Defendant

Plaintiff v Defendant - [2009] VSC 208 - VSC 2009 case summary — Zoe

[56]

I had asked you whether your solicitors were then a different firm from your present solicitors?---Yes.

They were a firm called Hallett West Johnston and you told His Honour the name of the practitioner who was handling your matter at that stage was a Mr.... ?---That's correct.

Was he a junior or a senior practitioner?---He was a clerk.

Would you explain to His Honour the circumstances in which you came to swear these answers to interrogatories, please?---Yes. If I can just say he was a clerk and then he became a junior solicitor. Sorry, Your Honour. Can you please repeat the question?

Could you explain the circumstances in which you came to swear these answers to interrogatories, please?---Yes. I was in [the junior solicitor's] office_. I was with my business adviser at the time._ I believe I was with my business adviser at the time. I can't remember; it was so long ago. I looked through the documents and there was some words in there that I couldn't understand. As I left school at a young age, Your Honour, my reading and spelling is not very good. I then said to [the junior solicitor], "... there's a lot in here that I don't understand and also a lot in here that you have put in that doesn't make sense", meaning, for instance, the so-called few days that I was in the business ...

...

What did [he] say to you in response?---[He] then said to me, "Zorica, you need to start trusting your legal team. I have been through this thoroughly. Don't worry about reading it. Just sign it and trust in your legal team that they will do the right thing on your behalf."

Did you sign it? Did you then sign it?---I did then sign it.

Did you swear on a bible? Did you pick up a bible and take the oath at the time you signed it?---I don't believe he had a bible in the room. Quite honestly, I can't say for sure whether he had a bible in the room at any stage. I know that Mr Hallett had one in his office. However, he was away on holiday.

So is this the position: you know that you signed it because your signature is there, but you can't recall whether or not you took the bible in your hand and swore that the answers which were given to the interrogatories were true and correct?---I have to - - -

You have sworn affidavits in this proceeding. You understand the procedure?---I have to say, Your Honour, my answer to you is going to be no. I didn't swear on the bible, even though I'm not sure. It's going to be no because I would not swear on the bible if I wasn't sure that it was all true, and for me that wasn't - I didn't believe it was a proper document, but I had to trust in my lawyers. That's all I had.[9]

[320]

We were at the Atherton Road store in Oakleigh and Janni has a habit, when he has money in his pockets, he always uses a safety pin to pin the pockets as to not let the cash fall out, which is what he did. Before he went across the road, he opened one of his pockets up and took out some money. To me it looked like something in the vicinity of $10,000, I can't be sure, but it did look around that amount of money. And then he said to me, "My darling, I want you to wait here. I'll be back soon." Which I did, and I saw him go across the road but I didn't know where he was going. He then came back with a very big smile on his face, extremely happy. I was sitting down on the vinyl lounge suite just opposite the desk that we would write our receipts on and Janni got down on one knee, he had a little box which contained the engagement ring, he opened it, he took my hand, he asked me, "Zorica, will you marry me and be my wife and spend the rest of your life with me", and I said, "Yes, Janni."

What was in the box?---It was the engagement ring.

And what did he do with the ring?---He placed it on my finger.

Which finger?---My left ring finger. The ring was a little - a little bit too big for my finger. It was slipping off.

Just stop there. Attend to yourself first, if you wouldn't mind, and then we will go on with the answer. Are you right?---Yes.

You just described that he put the ring on your ring finger on your left hand?---He did.

And you just told His Honour that it was a bit big for you?---Yes.

What did the defendant then say?---He then said, "My darling, go across the road to the jeweller's shop." They were lovely Asian people.

Just say what he said, not your description, if you wouldn't mind, mixed up with the statement. What did he say to you?---Janni had asked me to go across the road to the jeweller and to have the ring made specially to fit my finger as he said he never wanted it off my finger ever again for the rest of our lives. It was to stay on there forever. So I did this.

[378]

The next occasion was after the renovation of our home, 11 Yarrabee Court, in Mount Waverley. I had picked David up from school. We did some shopping and came home. Megan arrived at our front door and rang the doorbell. I never, ever open the door to anyone. I always look through the peep hole and I could see it was her and she said, "Zorica, this is Megan. Open the door. I want to talk to you." She was very loud and she wasn't swearing, but she was very loud and abrupt in the way she spoke to me. David, who was in the kitchen at the time, had heard the conversation and got very nervous...

...

David was shaking and crying and said, "Zorica, I love you dearly. You're my second mum. I please beg you don't open the door. She might throw acid in your face. You don't know. Please." He was extremely concerned.

What happened with the woman at the door?---Megan kept on raving on about all sorts of issues. At this stage I asked David to go get the portable phone. He did so and I called Janni. I made Megan aware of the fact that I was calling Janni and her response to me was, "Good. Call him. Let him admit in front of me and you that he is still seeing myself and Jessica, the baby." She was extremely angry and very loud. The neighbours, you know, it was embarrassing. Anyway - - -

What did you say to the defendant over the phone and what did he say to you?---I said, "Janni, Megan is back again," and I put the phone up against the door and Janni heard what she had said. Janni's words to me were, "My darling, I will be home as soon as possible," and that was almost straight away, "and I will take care of her and whoever else she is dealing with once and for all. I won't let you go through any more of this."

Did he then come home to Yarrabee Court?---He did.

And was the woman still there?---No, she had left, but as she left she was - the language she was using I really don't want to use in the court room. It was just - it was not nice.

Swearing?---Swearing, and especially in front of David, I didn't like it at all.

Apart from using swear words, what was she saying? Presumably the swear words would have embellished something?---"You f-ing b-i-t-c-h. If I can't have him, you won't have him. I'll make sure that I break up your marriage."

...

When the defendant got home, what did you say to him and what did he say to you?---I said to Janni, I said, "What's going on?" And he said again to me, "This woman and whoever else is working with her are trying to blackmail me through you to destroy our business and our marriage and our life."

Did you ask him about the daughter and the pregnancy?---Well, I did, yes, and he said, "Zorica, you know very well that I don't want any more children." He made that a very clear point. He did not want any more children.

[380]

Your Honour, this is the last time I ever saw Megan Courtney. She again came to the front door in the same way that she did, ringing the doorbell. At this time David was not with me; I was on my own. And her words to me were, "Zorica, it's Megan. Please open the door, I want to talk to you." I said, "Megan, I'm not going to open the door to you. I have nothing to say to you. I don't believe you."

Go on, please?---"I don't believe you." And then she said to me, "Well, perhaps you will believe me now. I have just accompanied Janni to a day procedure at the Blackburn hospital and he has had a vasectomy and if you don't believe me, feel welcome to check down there and once you do, you will realise what he's doing."

Did she then leave?---She then left.

Did you ring the defendant or wait until he came home that night?---I didn't ring him. I waited for him to come home that night.

And could you tell His Honour what then took place between the two of you?---Yes. After we had had our meal together we went to bed. He wanted to go to bed quite early that night, which was quite strange for him ...

...

So we went to bed quite early that night. And I said to Janni, "You know, darling, I'm feeling quite sexy." And for the first time ever in our relationship Janni denied me, and I found that extremely strange. Very strange.

And what did you do then?---I then put my hands straight down his pants and grabbed him by his testicles.

And what happened?---He jumped up in pain.

And what conversation did the two of you then have?---I then told him how Megan Courtney had come to the home and told me about the vasectomy and asked him if it was true. He then admitted it to me. He then said that he was extremely sorry. He had his hands over his face, something like that. I don't know whether he was crying but it appeared that he may have been crying, and he said to me, "Zorica, with everything we've built together, our business, our life together, our home, our future together, all the plans that we have for our future together, please don't let this one mistake destroy all that." He said, "I wouldn't blame you for leaving. You have every right to leave. I've done the wrong thing, but I'm admitting to it. However, I promise you that I will never lie to you again, never lie to you again, and that I will not see Megan Courtney or the child ever again."

Now, you say the word "mistake" was used. What mistake was he talking about?---The mistake that he had been tricked. He explained to me that he shouldn't have gone to Sydney because he had been tricked. The invitation to Sydney was from Megan and he went to spend the weekend with her. This is coming from Janni and also Megan had told me the same thing, and apparently the child was conceived in Sydney and Janni said that was a very big mistake. And he also said that, "You know, if she was stupid enough to think that a man like me would marry someone just because they fell pregnant, well, then, she's just a stupid," and I won't go on to - - -

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Judgment (930 paragraphs)

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Legislation Cited (1)

Cases Cited (9)