NSW: Daughter of alleged murderer told to lie, jury told
By Margaret Scheikowski04 Feb 2009 6:24 PM
SYDNEY, Feb 4 AAP - A woman accused of murdering her frail elderly father ordered her daughter to tell police she believed his girlfriend had once tried to poison him, a Sydney jury has been told.
Romina Beltrame was giving evidence on Wednesday at the NSW Supreme Court trial of her mother, Daniela Beltrame, who has pleaded not guilty to murdering Ederino Beltrame, 70.
The now 55-year-old is accused of smothering her father with a pillow after binding him to his bed with cling wrap on April 26, 2001, at his Canley Heights home, in Sydney's west.
Romina Beltrame has told the jury she interrupted her mother when she had a pillow over his face, but was later told by her mother "he's gone".
She said she did not report this to police until January 2007 because her mother threatened to commit suicide.
On Wednesday, the jury was read translated transcripts of secret police recordings made in the home in January and February 2002, during which mother and daughter speak in Italian.
In one conversation, Ms Beltrame reads to her mother a statement she had just made to police.
In it, she says her grandfather once came home from seeing his girlfriend, Nina Durazza, with some Chinotto, Italian cola.
"Both my grandfather and mother each went to hospital. I think Nina put something in the Chinotto to try and poison it," she said in her statement.
But on Wednesday, she told Elizabeth Wilkins SC, for the crown, that while she knew of an incident in which the pair went to hospital, she could not remember the reason.
She said she had not genuinely believe Ms Durazza tried to poison the pair but told police she did "because my mum told me to say it".
In the statement, she also spoke of Ms Durazza wanting her grandfather's house and how she and her mother did not want her to find out about his death "because she was a troublemaker".
Ms Beltrame told police about an argument between her mother and her grandfather, when he tried to throw a chair and called her mother "a slut" in Italian.
She said her mother had "seen black" and dug her nails into his arms, leaving a mark on him.
She said her mother had seen a letter which said "he wanted her to move out and something about changing the will and leaving everything to John" (her mother's adopted brother).
In the transcript, Beltrame comments on her daughter's statement saying: "You make him (Ederino) sound too nice".
The mother also said: "Romina, I told you to say something and you went and said completely the opposite".
The trial continues before Acting Justice Jane Mathews.
