NSW: Woman accused of smothering father, cling wrapping him
By Margaret Scheikowski03 Feb 2009 5:32 PM
SYDNEY, Feb 3 AAP - A woman seemed "possessed" as she held a pillow over her father's face after restraining him to his bed with cling wrap, her daughter has told a Sydney jury.
Romina Beltrame said her mother said: "Help me, help me, he won't die, he is a demon."
Ms Beltrame said her mother remonstrated with her when she started to free him saying: "What are you doing, it has taken me hours to Glad Wrap him".
The 29-year-old receptionist was giving evidence on Tuesday at the NSW Supreme Court trial of her 55-year-old mother, Daniela Beltrame.
She has pleaded not guilty to murdering her frail then-70-year-old father Ederino Beltrame in the early hours of April 26, 2001, at his Canley Heights home, in Sydney's west.
In the crown's opening address, prosecutor Elizabeth Wilkins, SC, said Beltrame was motivated by greed combined with "some deep bitterness and resentment" towards her father.
She said Beltrame wanted to be the sole inheritor of her father's estate and forged his will.
Beltrame also resented her father's closeness to her adopted brother, John, despite his being in jail for killing a woman, Ms Wilkins said.
Romina Beltrame broke down while giving evidence about going into her grandfather's bedroom, after hearing her mother scream.
"I saw mum kneeling on top of my grandfather," she said.
"She had a pillow on his face and she was suffocating him."
Ms Beltrame said she tried to get her mother off her grandfather before running out of the room to try and phone for help.
When she returned, she noticed her grandfather was "glad wrapped all around the bed", from the top of his chest down.
As she tried to cut it off, her grandfather was struggling to breathe and said to her in Italian: "God bless you my child".
Ms Beltrame said her mother returned to the room saying: "He has to go, he is a demon, it is either him or me. If I stop now he will call the police".
Ms Beltrame said she was in "shock mode" and went into the lounge where she "started rocking myself and praying".
When her mother came out, she said "he's gone".
Her mother's demeanour that night had seemed "very evil, it was like she was possessed", she said.
Ms Beltrame said she had a coffee with her mother, before going to bed and waking the next morning to find the police or ambulance at the house.
Ms Wilkins told the jury Mr Beltrame's treating doctor wrote "cardiac failure" on his death certificate, before his body was cremated.
Ms Beltrame said she did not reveal what she had seen, as she was scared because her mother threatened to kill herself.
"My mother always told me she would commit suicide if I told anyone," she said, adding she had made two attempts in the past.
After selling the house, Beltrame lived in Italy for years before returning in February 2006 after her daughter repeatedly asked her to come back.
Ms Beltrame said she finally went to police in January 2007 as "I just wanted everything to be out".
The trial is continuing before Acting Justice Jane Mathews and a jury of seven women and five men.
