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[Music]
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Our episodes deal with serious and often
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distressing incidents. If you feel at
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any time you need support, please
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contact your local crisis center. For
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suggested phone numbers, for
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confidential support and for a more
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detailed list of content warnings,
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please see the show notes for this
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episode on your app or on our website.
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During the late 1980s, a growing number
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of residents in the small New South
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Wales town of Trey had concerns about a
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woman named Roseanne Cat.
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In July of 1989, one man decided to do
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something about it.
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Adrienne had met Roseanne a couple of
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years earlier when she married
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Adrienne's good friend, Barry Cat. It
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was a second marriage for both parties.
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Roseanne and Barry had previously
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divorced their first spouses and both
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had children from these prior
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relationships.
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42year-old Roseanne was a well-known
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figure in Tari, which sits on the midn
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north coast of New South Wales.
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Although Roseanne only moved there less
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than a decade earlier, she became a
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familiar face after purchasing a
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delicatessan, a business that had her
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interacting with lots of locals.
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44year-old Barry had a small business,
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too. He was a motor mechanic with his
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own auto repair shop called Catty's Body
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Repairs.
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Barry struck up a romance with Roseanne
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after hiring her son, and the two were
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married in August of 1987.
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But Adrienne wasn't happy that his
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friend had found love again because
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Adrienne had never trusted Roseanne.
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Ever since Barry had met her, his life
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had been turned upside down, and it
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appeared to be Roseanne's doing.
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There had been worrying rumors even
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before the couple was married. Family
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and friends of Barry reported that
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Roseanne complained about Barry
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non-stop, calling his business a mess
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and describing his friends as no
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hobbers.
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Barry's sister Mary said that one week
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before their wedding, Roseanne told her,
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"You are next of kin now, but next week
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when I marry him, I will be and I will
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have him committed."
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Sure enough, the couple had been married
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for less than 2 weeks when Barry was
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admitted to a psychiatric facility.
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Things only worsened from there.
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Although Barry returned to the couple's
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home within a week, he was readmitted
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and released several more times in quick
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succession.
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Barry had previously been diagnosed with
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manic depressive disorder, now known as
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bipolar disorder. And it seemed to some
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who knew him that Roseanne was
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exploiting this for her own advantage.
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They suspected that she wanted to take
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control of his business and other
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assets.
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Over the next couple of years, issues
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escalated.
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Word spread that Roseanne had attacked
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her husband on multiple occasions with a
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rock, a cricket bat, and even a knife.
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Roseanne sometimes complained to
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Adrienne about Barry, saying that he was
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mad and that she wanted him put away.
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She told Adrienne that she would do a
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much better job of running Barry's auto
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repair business than he was.
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Adrien started paying closer attention
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to his friend's situation in case there
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really was something wrong.
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As he subsequently noted in an official
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statement, Adrien saw that Barry was
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behaving strangely.
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He was unsteady on his feet, his speech
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was slow, and his thinking was confused.
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No matter how much sleep Barry had, he
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always looked to groggy and exhausted.
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It was as though he was drunk, yet he
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never smelled of alcohol.
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Adrienne began to worry that his friend
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was being poisoned.
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Things I observed and things I was told
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confirmed my suspicions that Roseanne
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had a plan, Adrienne later stated.
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By late July of 1989, Adrienne decided
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that something had to be done before his
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friend's life completely fell apart.
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[Music]
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Adrien Newell didn't want to report his
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concerns to the local police in Tre. He
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later explained that this was because he
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didn't trust them to investigate
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Roseanne cat properly.
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Years earlier in 1983, Roseanne had been
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charged with arson after the
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delicateessan she owned went up in
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flames.
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This charge had later been dropped,
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which Adrienne said was due to Roseanne
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putting pressure on the authorities.
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Roseanne then sold the business in 1986.
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Adrien didn't like Roseanne, and he'd
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seen her relationship with Barry decline
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rapidly.
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The truth was, their marriage had
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deteriorated so quickly after their
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wedding that law enforcement was already
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involved, and they appeared to be taking
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Roseanne's side.
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On Monday, May 2, 1988, just 9 months
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after the couple was married, there had
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been a violent altercation at the home
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of Barry's sister, Mary.
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Mary reported that Roseanne had shown up
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at her house along with her 19-year-old
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son, Peter, and a young man named Jack
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Harris, not his real name. Both Peter
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and Jack were apprentice mechanics at
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Barry's panel beating shop.
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Mary and Roseanne had never gotten
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along.
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According to Mary, Roseanne picked a
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fight, accusing Mary of having
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incestuous sex with her brother Barry,
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and saying that Mary's children were
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illegitimate.
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Mary tried to close the door on her
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sister-in-law, prompting Roseanne to
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slap her across the face, grab the keys
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out of the door, and throw them into a
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rock garden set up in the yard nearby.
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Roseanne and the two young men
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eventually got back in Roseanne's car
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and were about to leave when Barry
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pulled up at the property. He'd realized
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something must be going on after
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discovering both of his apprentices had
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left work along with Roseanne.
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Barry approached Roseanne as she sat in
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the driver's seat and the two began
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arguing. Barry turned the car's ignition
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off. According to Mary, Roseanne then
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yelled at Barry and hit him with the
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back of her hand.
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Barry struck Roseanne back then stormed
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off.
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Jumping out of the car, Roseanne
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followed and started pummeling him in
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the back with her hands.
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Barry hit back and told Roseanne, "Wake
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up to yourself."
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According to Mary, Roseanne then urged
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Peter and Jack to step in, pushing Barry
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to the ground where he knelt on all
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fours.
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At this point, Mary said that Roseanne
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picked up a large 5 kg rock from the
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rock garden and held it at Barry while
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shouting, "I'll [ __ ] kill you, you
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cunt."
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Barry later testified that a neighbor
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drove him to the hospital after this
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altercation and he'd needed four
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stitches for a wound in his head.
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Roseanne immediately reported Barry for
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assault and filed an apprehended
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violence order or AVO against him.
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This was granted, forcing Barry to move
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into the offices of Catt's Body Repairs,
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which was just across the street from
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his home where Roseanne was staying with
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his children.
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The couple hadn't lived together since,
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but that had only been the start of
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their legal issues.
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Tari was a small town, and their lives
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were still intertwined, even if they
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were living apart.
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10 months later in March 1989, a general
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practitioner named Dr. Godard went to
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Catty's Body Repairs to have a car
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looked at.
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While he was there, Barry Cat showed him
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a wound that he'd sustained to the left
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side of his torso. According to Barry,
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he and Roseanne had been having a picnic
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a few days earlier at a scenic spot
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called Swans Crossing located in the
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Kerowong State Forest about an hour's
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drive from Trey.
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Barry and Roseanne were both wearing
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their bthers as they chatted and drank
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stout on a picnic rug. But an argument
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soon broke out.
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Roseanne, who had been slicing up lemons
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at the time, began angrily stabbing the
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knife into the picnic blanket.
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She then threatened to stab Barry as
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well before proddding him with a knife
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and then driving it into his left side
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beneath the ribs.
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Barry said he was horrified as blood
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spurted from the wound, describing it as
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something you'd see in the movies.
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He ran away and flagged down a man who
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was barbecuing nearby.
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The man gave Barry his t-shirt to stem
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the bleeding. Then Barry hitchhiked
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home.
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Barry didn't seek treatment at the
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hospital because quote, "Rosanne would
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get the police and twist it around and
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I'd be back in jail again as usual. I
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was like a sitting duck on a restraining
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order.
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2 months after that, Roseanne called the
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police and reported that Barry had
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physically attacked his two young sons
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after they went to his workplace looking
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for stationary supplies.
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When she went to the children's defense,
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Barry threw a bottle of eucalyptus oil
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at her. Barry's version of events was
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different.
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He said that he'd been on his office
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phone chatting to a female friend when
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Roseanne had picked up the other handset
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in the cat residence and intercepted the
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call. "I don't want you talking to that
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slut," she said before hanging up and
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turning up at Barry's office with his
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sons 5 minutes later.
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Barry accused Roseanne of picking up a
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cricket bat that one of the boys was
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carrying and hitting the right side of
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his face while threatening to kill him.
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When police showed up at the scene, they
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saw Barry had a bleeding cut on his
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right eyebrow.
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Barry had the cut sutured at a nearby
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hospital, but Roseanne requested he be
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the one charged with assault.
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All of these allegations were starting
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to add up for Adrienne New.
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But the most shocking moment of all was
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when Roseanne began accusing Barry of
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sexually abusing his children.
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Adrienne later reported to police that
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in early 1988, Roseanne told him that
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Barry had been raping his children for
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years.
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"I don't believe it," Adrienne had
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replied. I don't believe it could be
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true, but I certainly would not support
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him if it turns out that it is.
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It was at that point that he started
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paying closer attention to Roseanne and
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Barry's relationship, trying to
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understand what was really going on.
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Nothing Adrienne saw made him think that
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Barry was the problem.
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In fact, he suspected Barry was the
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victim. that everything Roseanne had
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said and done was part of a bigger
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scheme she'd set in motion to gain
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access to all of his financial assets.
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As Adrienne later said in an official
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statement, quote, "In a very short
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period after marrying Barry, Roseanne
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set about to absolutely and
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systematically discredit him. She had
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him committed to institutions where his
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family and friends were responsible for
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his release.
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She has continually discredited him
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verbally, saying to any person who went
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near the place, "He's mad. He's
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unreliable. He's a child molester. He's
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a drug addict."
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I know that hundreds, and I say hundreds
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of people can corroborate this.
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Despite being confident in his
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assertions, Adrienne didn't want to
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report his concerns to the Trey police,
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as Roseanne had repeatedly boasted about
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the influence she had over them.
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He had an alternative plan in mind.
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On Tuesday, July 25, 1989, Adrien Newle
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made the 3 and 1 half-hour drive south
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to the New South Wales capital of
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Sydney.
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There he visited the headquarters of
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IAC, the Independent Commission Against
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Corruption, which is responsible for
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investigating corruption in New South
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Wales public sector.
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Adrien spoke with an IAC employee and
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lodged an official complaint about
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Roseanne cat.
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He said that Roseanne had put pressure
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on the attorney general to drop the
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arson charge against her after her
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delicateessan had burnt down.
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According to Adrien, Roseanne knew the
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then attorney general and had some
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influence over him.
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Adrien claimed that not only had
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Roseanne been responsible for that fire,
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but she'd lit other fires as well.
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He also alleged that police in Trey had
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exhibited favoritism towards Roseanne
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and that she was involved with the drugs
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and had violently attacked her husband
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with a rock.
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Adrien was particularly concerned about
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this because he thought that Roseanne
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owned a rifle as well as an unlicensed
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pistol that she kept in her handbag.
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What if her violence escalated and the
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next time she shot her husband?
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Adrienne also paid a visit to police
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headquarters in Sydney, requesting that
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an independent detective investigate the
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case.
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His efforts paid off. A detective by the
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name of Peter Thomas soon took interest
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in the case.
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Detective Thomas lived two hours away
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from Trey in the harbor city of
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Newcastle and worked for the regional
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crime squad where he was responsible for
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arson investigations.
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On Saturday, July 29, Detective Thomas
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drove to Tari to meet with Adrien Ule.
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In addition to the information he'd
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passed on to IAK, Adrienne also told the
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detective about how Barry had been
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behaving as though he was drugged.
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Adrienne had also happened to notice
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some strange sediment in the bottom of a
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beverage bottle in Barry's fridge.
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He suspected that Roseanne was poisoning
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Barry by spiking his drinks.
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Adrienne had spoken to Barry's
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psychiatrist, Dr. Ray Sandfield and
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asked whether Barry's strange behavior
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could be due to an overdose of lithium,
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a drug prescribed to Barry to treat his
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bipolar disorder.
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Dr. Sandfield agreed that it could be.
00:16:35
However, as lithium was a drug with a
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slower reaction time, Barry's rapid
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deterioration could also be attributed
00:16:42
to an excess of Clinazipam, a
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benzoazipene medication also used to
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treat bipolar disorder.
00:16:50
Barry Cat had a prescription for that as
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well.
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Dr. Sandfield gave Adrien some empty
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specimen containers which he could
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decant beverages into for testing.
00:17:04
On Sunday, July 30, the day after Adrien
00:17:07
met with Detective Thomas, he paid a
00:17:10
visit to Barry's office where Barry was
00:17:12
still residing.
00:17:14
It was empty at the time, giving Adrien
00:17:17
the opportunity to move about freely.
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He went to the refrigerator.
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Inside were cartons of plain milk,
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chocolate milk, and orange juice, all of
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which Barry was known to drink a lot of.
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Adrien grabbed all three and took them
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home with him, carefully storing them in
00:17:38
his fridge.
00:17:40
The following day, Detective Thomas went
00:17:43
to Adrienne's home and observed as
00:17:45
Adrienne decanted some liquid from each
00:17:47
of the cartons into specimen containers.
00:17:51
Adrien then handed the cartons over to
00:17:54
the detective, who took them in as
00:17:56
police evidence.
00:17:58
The specimen containers were passed
00:18:00
along to Dr. Sandfield, who in turn gave
00:18:03
them to a clinical chemist at Royal
00:18:05
Newcastle Hospital.
00:18:08
Dr. Sandfield requested that the
00:18:10
specimens be tested for lithium and
00:18:12
Clenezipan.
00:18:14
One week later, the first result came
00:18:17
back. The orange juice contained high
00:18:20
concentrations of lithium.
00:18:24
[Music]
00:18:26
Further testing revealed high
00:18:28
concentrations of both lithium and
00:18:30
clinazipam in the other beverages as
00:18:33
well.
00:18:34
On Monday, August 7, Detective Thomas
00:18:37
asked Barry Cat to visit Newcastle
00:18:40
Police Station for an interview.
00:18:42
He informed Barry that his drinks had
00:18:45
been spiked with prescription
00:18:46
medication, which would explain why he
00:18:49
had been feeling so groggy and exhausted
00:18:51
lately.
00:18:53
It was Detective Thomas's contention
00:18:55
that Barry's wife, Roseanne, had been
00:18:58
poisoning him.
00:19:01
Barry said that he usually picked up his
00:19:03
own prescriptions from the chemist, but
00:19:06
sometimes Roseanne filled them instead.
00:19:09
When she did, she kept the tablets at
00:19:11
the family residence instead of the
00:19:13
office where Barry had been living for
00:19:16
over a year.
00:19:18
If Barry ever ran out of his tablets, he
00:19:20
asked Roseanne if she had any, and she
00:19:23
normally did.
00:19:25
Roseanne often asked Barry if he had his
00:19:28
medication and would sometimes get it
00:19:30
for him. She knew exactly where he kept
00:19:34
it.
00:19:36
Barry said he'd been unaware that
00:19:38
Adrienne had taken his drinks for
00:19:41
testing.
00:19:42
He said he'd purchased these drinks on
00:19:44
the evening of Thursday, July 27, 3 days
00:19:47
before Adrien took them away, and had
00:19:51
drunk both the plain milk and chocolate
00:19:53
milk on Friday, July 28, without feeling
00:19:56
any effects.
00:19:59
He tended to avoid his office on the
00:20:01
weekends, as there was more chance of
00:20:03
Roseanne being there, so he hadn't
00:20:06
touched the drinks over the weekend.
00:20:10
This timeline indicated that if Roseanne
00:20:12
had done it, she must have spiked the
00:20:15
cartons sometime after Barry drank from
00:20:17
them on Friday, July 28th, and before
00:20:21
Adrien took them away on Sunday, July
00:20:24
30.
00:20:28
Detective Thomas continued his
00:20:30
investigation and learned of the
00:20:32
allegations that Roseanne had hurled a
00:20:35
heavy rock at Barry's head and
00:20:36
threatened to kill him.
00:20:39
There was also the stabbing allegation
00:20:41
at Swan's crossing, which Barry detailed
00:20:43
to the detective, as well as the alleged
00:20:46
attack with the cricket bat.
00:20:49
Barry also said that Roseanne owned an
00:20:52
unlicensed pistol. He claimed she'd
00:20:55
shown it to him a couple of months
00:20:57
before their wedding.
00:20:59
Two other witnesses provided statements
00:21:01
that Roseanne had discussed her firearm
00:21:03
with them as well.
00:21:06
Allegations emerged that Roseanne had
00:21:09
also tried to enlist others in a quest
00:21:11
to get rid of her husband.
00:21:14
Barry said that on Saturday, June 24,
00:21:17
1989, he and Roseanne had gone to the
00:21:20
Trey Leagues Club after attending a
00:21:23
wedding.
00:21:24
Barry was standing at the bar when he
00:21:27
noticed Roseanne talking to a friend of
00:21:29
his named Tim Smith, not his real name,
00:21:32
who owned a farm nearby.
00:21:35
The pair looked curiously deep in
00:21:38
conversation, so Barry seated himself
00:21:40
behind them so he could eaves drop.
00:21:44
Barry said he overheard Roseanne
00:21:46
offering Tim money to kill him. And
00:21:49
alarmingly to Barry, he seemed open to
00:21:52
the idea.
00:21:54
Tim said he would shoot Barry and get
00:21:56
rid of his body if Roseanne could find a
00:21:59
way to lure him to Tim's farm.
00:22:03
Jack Harris, one of Barry's apprentices,
00:22:06
also alleged that Roseanne had once
00:22:08
asked him if he'd be willing to kill her
00:22:10
husband for money. When Jack said he
00:22:14
wasn't interested, Roseanne asked, "Do
00:22:17
you know anyone else who will?"
00:22:21
Another man named James Morris alleged
00:22:24
that he'd received a similar proposition
00:22:26
from Roseanne.
00:22:28
On the night of Friday, July 28th, just
00:22:31
one day before Detective Thomas drove
00:22:33
down to Trey to begin his investigation,
00:22:36
James was at the local RSL club with his
00:22:39
sister having a few drinks.
00:22:42
James was an Aboriginal liaison officer
00:22:45
who worked with police to address issues
00:22:47
within the local indigenous community.
00:22:50
He'd never met Roseanne Cat before, but
00:22:53
she approached him that night and
00:22:55
started chatting.
00:22:57
Both of them had drunk quite a bit. And
00:23:00
James said Roseanne began telling him
00:23:03
how her husband was a monster who'd
00:23:05
sexually abused his children.
00:23:08
According to James, she then asked him
00:23:11
if he wanted to make some money.
00:23:14
James asked how.
00:23:17
To do a job on my husband, Roseanne
00:23:19
replied.
00:23:21
A good job on my husband.
00:23:24
James said she went on to offer him
00:23:26
$10,000 to break Barry's arms and legs.
00:23:31
If James killed Barry, she would
00:23:33
apparently give him a bonus.
00:23:36
James's sister stated she had been
00:23:39
present for the entire conversation and
00:23:42
corroborated his allegations.
00:23:45
James didn't accept Roseanne's offer,
00:23:48
but he bumped into her a week later and
00:23:50
she asked if he'd thought about it any
00:23:53
further. Another
00:23:56
man named Vernon reported a similar
00:23:58
situation.
00:24:00
He said that he'd paid a few visits to
00:24:02
Barry's auto repair shop late in 1988
00:24:05
and early 1989.
00:24:08
He'd admired Roseanne's car, which was a
00:24:11
Corvette, and asked if he could
00:24:13
photograph it.
00:24:15
Soon, he was visiting Catty's Body
00:24:17
Repairs two or three times a week, and
00:24:20
Roseanne started opening up to him.
00:24:22
According
00:24:24
to Vernon, she told him how Barry had
00:24:27
sexually abused his children and asked
00:24:29
if Vernon owned any guns.
00:24:33
He did as he was a professional kangaroo
00:24:36
shooter.
00:24:37
A few weeks after that, Roseanne
00:24:40
allegedly asked Vernon if he'd do a job
00:24:42
for her, adding, "I want you to bump him
00:24:46
off for me because if he is out of the
00:24:48
road, it is all finished and there will
00:24:50
be no more problems."
00:24:54
Vernon understood that Roseanne was
00:24:56
talking about killing Barry. He said she
00:24:59
offered him $20,000 to do it, but he
00:25:03
refused.
00:25:06
Vernon claims that Roseanne persisted in
00:25:08
asking, but eventually accepted that he
00:25:11
wouldn't take her up on her offer. He
00:25:14
said that she told him not to tell
00:25:16
anybody what she'd asked. If he did, or
00:25:20
if he reported her to the police, she
00:25:22
would know about it because she had
00:25:25
friends within the force who would do
00:25:27
anything for her.
00:25:33
Detective Peter Thomas applied for a
00:25:35
warrant to search the cat home for
00:25:37
firearms.
00:25:39
On the morning of Thursday, August 24,
00:25:42
1989, Roseanne and Barry's children had
00:25:45
just finished their breakfast when
00:25:47
police arrived at the front door.
00:25:50
Roseanne was still wearing her nighty
00:25:53
and dressing gown when she was
00:25:54
handcuffed and seated on a stool outside
00:25:57
of her bedroom.
00:25:59
A female constable took Barry's children
00:26:02
to the police station while her
00:26:03
colleagues moved from room to room
00:26:06
searching the property.
00:26:08
Various items were collected and taken
00:26:11
into evidence, including knives and
00:26:13
photo albums.
00:26:15
A black handbag was reported to have
00:26:18
been found tucked away in a drawer in
00:26:20
the main bedroom.
00:26:22
It contained two medication bottles. One
00:26:26
was labeled lithium and the other was
00:26:28
labeled Reverrol, a brand name of
00:26:31
Clinazipam.
00:26:33
Inside the bedroom wardrobe was a 22
00:26:36
caliber rifle.
00:26:39
Another officer turned her attention to
00:26:41
the bedroom's on suite. She checked the
00:26:44
cupboards under the sink and noticed
00:26:46
several bottles of alcohol.
00:26:49
She then opened a drawer of the bathroom
00:26:52
vanity and saw a small handgun lying
00:26:54
there.
00:26:56
"Oh, look what I found," she called.
00:27:00
The police had found the evidence they'd
00:27:02
been looking for.
00:27:05
Roseanne was told to get dressed and was
00:27:08
then escorted out of the house in
00:27:10
handcuffs.
00:27:12
By this stage, several reporters and
00:27:14
photographers had gathered outside, and
00:27:17
they snapped pictures of Roseanne as she
00:27:19
was marched out and taken into custody.
00:27:25
That afternoon, Roseanne Cat was charged
00:27:28
with a range of offenses against her
00:27:30
husband, including assault, occasioning
00:27:33
bodily harm, malicious wounding,
00:27:35
poisoning, and solicitation of murder.
00:27:39
She was held in custody for several
00:27:41
weeks before being granted bail.
00:27:44
A committal hearing was held in May of
00:27:47
1990, after which Roseanne was ordered
00:27:50
to stand trial.
00:27:52
Her trial finally began in May 1991,
00:27:56
almost 2 years after her arrest.
00:28:00
Although she was initially charged with
00:28:02
14 offenses, she was only indicted on
00:28:05
nine of these.
00:28:08
The prosecution was alleging that
00:28:10
Roseanne Cat had planned to kill her
00:28:13
husband so that she could assume control
00:28:15
of his business and other assets,
00:28:17
including seven blocks of land he owned
00:28:20
that were valued at around $600,000.
00:28:24
Their case primarily consisted of
00:28:27
testimony from dozens of witnesses.
00:28:31
Barry Cat took the stand and testified
00:28:34
at length about his troubled marriage.
00:28:37
He told the court how Roseanne had taken
00:28:40
control of his auto repair shop
00:28:42
following their marriage and paid him
00:28:44
wages while keeping most of the income
00:28:46
for herself.
00:28:48
She paid her son double of what she paid
00:28:51
Barry even though he was still an
00:28:53
apprentice.
00:28:55
[Music]
00:28:56
Barry told the court that Roseanne had
00:28:58
engaged in multiple physical attacks
00:29:01
against him, including stabbing him at
00:29:03
their picnic, hitting him with a cricket
00:29:05
bat, and dropping a rock on his head.
00:29:08
His accounts were corroborated by others
00:29:11
who said they had either witnessed or
00:29:13
overheard aspects of them.
00:29:16
These included a man who said he had
00:29:18
helped Barry tend to his wound after the
00:29:21
stabbing, a female friend who had been
00:29:23
on the phone with Barry immediately
00:29:25
prior to the alleged cricket bat attack,
00:29:28
and his sister Mary and apprentice Jack
00:29:30
Harris, who were present for the rock
00:29:32
throwing incident.
00:29:35
Barry said that Roseanne had frequently
00:29:37
threatened to kill him or have someone
00:29:40
else do it.
00:29:42
Adrien Newle also gave evidence about
00:29:44
his suspicions that Barry was being
00:29:46
poisoned.
00:29:48
He said he had felt the need to report
00:29:50
his fears to the police because at the
00:29:52
time his friend seemed reluctant to
00:29:55
report his wife, seemingly out of a
00:29:57
desire to work on his marriage.
00:30:01
Experts spoke about the spiking of
00:30:03
Barry's drinks.
00:30:05
A detective who had attended the search
00:30:07
of Roseanne's home described how he'd
00:30:10
found a black handbag in a bedroom
00:30:12
drawer, which contained bottles of the
00:30:14
prescription medication Barry was
00:30:16
suspected of having been drugged with.
00:30:19
The detective who launched the
00:30:21
investigation into Roseanne, Peter
00:30:23
Thomas, served as another key witness
00:30:26
for the prosecution.
00:30:29
The men who said Roseanne had asked them
00:30:32
to kill Barry gave evidence, as did
00:30:35
other witnesses who'd seen or heard
00:30:37
concerning things.
00:30:39
A woman named Amanda said she'd been
00:30:42
visiting the cat family home when she
00:30:44
saw Roseanne pour a glass of wine, then
00:30:47
add two white tablets that she took from
00:30:49
her handbag.
00:30:52
Roseanne had apparently placed the glass
00:30:54
on a table, then stated, "I hope it
00:30:57
kills him."
00:31:00
Another woman named Marie Whan testified
00:31:03
that Roseanne had told her of her plans
00:31:06
to go to Sydney to buy a gun and how she
00:31:09
had subsequently shown Marie the handgun
00:31:11
she had purchased.
00:31:14
The trial came to an end after 4 months
00:31:18
with the jury deliberating for 2 and 1/2
00:31:20
days before returning their verdict.
00:31:24
They found Roseanne Cat guilty of eight
00:31:27
of the nine counts against her. She was
00:31:30
found not guilty on one count, that of
00:31:34
soliciting Tim Smith to murder Barry
00:31:36
Cat.
00:31:39
44year-old Roseanne stood expressionless
00:31:42
as the verdict was delivered.
00:31:45
Barry Cat wasn't present in the
00:31:47
courtroom to see his ex-wife convicted.
00:31:51
It was subsequently reported that he was
00:31:53
drinking at a pub across the road.
00:31:57
Roseanne was sentenced to 12 years in
00:32:00
prison and would have to serve a minimum
00:32:02
of 10 before she would be eligible for
00:32:04
parole.
00:32:06
This was a longer sentence than some
00:32:09
other individuals in the state had
00:32:10
received after being convicted of
00:32:12
murder.
00:32:15
Case detective Peter Thomas spoke to the
00:32:17
media following the verdict, noting that
00:32:20
he would be looking into recharging
00:32:22
Roseanne with arson after burning down
00:32:24
her delicateess 8 years earlier,
00:32:27
adding,
00:32:29
"She's the most dangerous woman I have
00:32:31
ever met in my life.
00:32:40
[Music]
00:32:41
Roseanne Cat was sent to Malawa, the
00:32:44
most violent women's prison in New South
00:32:46
Wales. The inmates she was housed with
00:32:49
constantly screamed, cried, and fought.
00:32:53
Some threatened Roseanne with physical
00:32:55
violence, and even death.
00:32:58
One repeatedly punched Roseanne in the
00:33:00
head, knocking her unconscious.
00:33:03
The guards weren't much better. On one
00:33:06
occasion, a female guard sexually
00:33:08
assaulted Roseanne while she changed
00:33:10
uniforms.
00:33:13
More than a year into Roseanne's
00:33:15
sentence, a letter arrived for her. She
00:33:18
recognized the handwriting on the
00:33:20
envelope immediately.
00:33:22
It was her ex-husband Barry's.
00:33:26
There was no note inside, just two
00:33:28
photographs from their wedding day.
00:33:31
The images filled Roseanne with horror
00:33:34
and revulsion.
00:33:35
They were a reminder of the chain of
00:33:37
events that had led her here.
00:33:41
Roseanne's version was quite different
00:33:43
to what the prosecution alleged in her
00:33:46
criminal trial.
00:33:48
Originally from the New South Wales
00:33:50
South Coast, Roseanne had relocated to
00:33:52
Trey after leaving her abusive and
00:33:55
controlling first marriage.
00:33:58
aged in her mid30s at the time. She
00:34:00
purchased her own house to raise her two
00:34:02
children in and bought a delicateess
00:34:05
with a business partner.
00:34:07
The business did well and helped
00:34:09
Roseanne familiarize herself with the
00:34:11
local community.
00:34:13
Although she had to temporarily close
00:34:15
the delicateess after a fire late in
00:34:18
1983, she soon managed to have the
00:34:21
business up and running again.
00:34:24
Roseanne crossed paths with Barry Cat
00:34:26
after her son Peter was hired to work at
00:34:29
his auto repair shop. Although Roseanne
00:34:32
didn't know Barry, he appeared to have
00:34:34
been admiring her from afar as he
00:34:36
constantly talked to Peter about what a
00:34:39
wonderful lady she was. One day,
00:34:42
Roseanne went to visit Barry's shop to
00:34:44
see where Peter would be working. She
00:34:47
noticed that the office was in terrible
00:34:49
disarray, and Barry explained that he
00:34:52
struggled to complete all of the
00:34:53
paperwork.
00:34:55
He was a single father with four
00:34:57
children who had recently been left by
00:34:59
his partner.
00:35:01
Roseanne offered to help out and began
00:35:03
sorting through all of Barry's bills and
00:35:05
invoices free of charge. She even fixed
00:35:08
up Barry's tax return.
00:35:12
Roseanne felt bad for Barry. His house
00:35:15
was in as bad a state as his office with
00:35:17
maggots on the floor and mess
00:35:19
everywhere.
00:35:21
Her pity increased when Barry visited
00:35:24
her at home one day only to pass out on
00:35:26
the bathroom floor.
00:35:28
He told Roseanne that his ex-girlfriend
00:35:31
had been poisoning him, which must have
00:35:33
caused him to collapse.
00:35:36
When Roseanne met Barry's young
00:35:38
children, her heart went out to them,
00:35:40
too.
00:35:42
All four appeared emaciated and had
00:35:44
sores on their skin. Feeling she had to
00:35:47
do something to help, Roseanne said
00:35:49
about cleaning and improving Barry's
00:35:51
home so that it was appropriate for
00:35:53
children.
00:35:55
She even paid for it to be renovated to
00:35:57
include an extra bedroom with an on
00:35:59
suite.
00:36:01
Roseanne also invested in Barry's
00:36:03
business after he invited her to become
00:36:05
a partner.
00:36:07
As she had sold her delicateess sometime
00:36:09
earlier and could afford a new venture,
00:36:12
Roseanne agreed and spent about $80,000
00:36:15
of her own money improving the auto
00:36:17
repair shop.
00:36:19
Barry's children quickly grew attached
00:36:22
to Roseanne.
00:36:23
They didn't appear to be close with
00:36:25
their father.
00:36:27
Soon they were visiting Roseanne's home
00:36:29
every night for meals, and she took care
00:36:31
of their medical appointments, made sure
00:36:33
they went to school, and taught them
00:36:35
about hygiene.
00:36:38
Roseanne caring for Barry's children led
00:36:40
to the two of them entering a romantic
00:36:42
relationship.
00:36:44
She eventually moved into the cat
00:36:46
residence, while her own son, Peter, now
00:36:48
an adult, continued living at her house.
00:36:52
Barry could be gentle, funny, and sweet,
00:36:55
and Roseanne found him physically
00:36:57
attractive. He was a fan of Elvis
00:37:00
Presley and would slick back his hair in
00:37:02
the same style as the rock and roll
00:37:04
legend.
00:37:06
But over time, Roseanne noticed that
00:37:09
Barry exhibited some disturbing
00:37:11
behaviors.
00:37:12
He was short-tempered and often started
00:37:15
ranting angrily about his children,
00:37:17
calling them [ __ ] little bastards.
00:37:20
Sometimes his rages would include
00:37:22
complaints about Roseanne.
00:37:25
When Barry was on one of these rampages,
00:37:28
Roseanne sometimes left the house to
00:37:30
escape, but she felt uneasy leaving the
00:37:33
children alone with their father in that
00:37:35
state.
00:37:37
After a little while, Barry asked
00:37:39
Roseanne to marry him. She said no,
00:37:42
having already decided that she never
00:37:44
wanted to marry again. But Barry
00:37:47
continued to ask, begging her in public
00:37:50
to be his wife.
00:37:52
Once he got down on his knees while they
00:37:54
were having dinner at the pub and yelled
00:37:56
out, "Come on, Wonder Woman. Marry me."
00:38:00
Another time, as they drove together
00:38:02
through town, he started beeping the car
00:38:04
horn non-stop, shouting, "Marry me! I
00:38:08
won't take my hand off the horn until
00:38:10
you say yes."
00:38:13
Roseanne was mortified by the looks and
00:38:15
attention that Barry's behavior
00:38:16
garnered. He promised to change, saying,
00:38:20
"If you marry me, I'll be better. No
00:38:23
more outbursts."
00:38:25
Eventually, Roseanne gave in, hoping
00:38:28
that being married might make life
00:38:30
easier.
00:38:35
Life didn't improve after they were
00:38:37
married. According to Roseanne, Barry
00:38:40
would disappear for long stretches of
00:38:42
time, sometimes overnight. If Roseanne
00:38:45
asked where he'd been, he would burst
00:38:47
into an angry tirade.
00:38:50
11 days into the marriage, Barry walked
00:38:53
into the house as Roseanne and the
00:38:55
children were having breakfast.
00:38:57
Without saying anything to them, he
00:38:59
started screaming and punching himself
00:39:01
in the head. He soon turned his rage on
00:39:05
his children, verbally abusing one of
00:39:07
his sons. before punching him in the
00:39:09
mouth.
00:39:11
Roseanne said that another child jumped
00:39:13
up and tried to defend his brother,
00:39:15
which resulted in Barry punching him in
00:39:17
the stomach.
00:39:19
Roseanne grabbed both boys and ran to
00:39:21
her bedroom, locking the door behind
00:39:23
them. As Barry yelled at her to open the
00:39:27
door, she helped the boys jump out of
00:39:29
the window and told them to run for
00:39:31
help.
00:39:33
Barry eventually kicked in the bedroom
00:39:35
door, dragging his two daughters with
00:39:37
him by their hair. He held them with one
00:39:40
hand and hit them with the other.
00:39:43
Roseanne tried to pull Barry away, but
00:39:45
he grabbed her by the throat and threw
00:39:47
her on the bed where he choked her.
00:39:51
Suddenly, he stopped and ran out of the
00:39:53
house, looking for his two sons.
00:39:57
Roseanne said she called for help and an
00:39:59
ambulance arrived to take her and the
00:40:02
girls to the hospital.
00:40:04
Meanwhile, the two cat boys who fled out
00:40:06
the window made it to their aunt Mary's
00:40:08
house for help only for Barry to find
00:40:10
them there. He put both boys in his car,
00:40:14
but they were intercepted by the police
00:40:16
as they were heading out of town.
00:40:19
Following this incident, Barry was taken
00:40:21
to a psychiatric hospital and admitted
00:40:23
as an involuntary patient.
00:40:26
Roseanne discovered that her husband had
00:40:28
previously been diagnosed with bipolar
00:40:30
disorder and had spent several stints in
00:40:33
psychiatric care long before the two had
00:40:35
met.
00:40:37
Despite the claims Barry and his friends
00:40:39
later made about Roseanne trying to
00:40:41
portray him as unstable and attempting
00:40:43
to have him removed from the home, it
00:40:46
actually appeared that this had been an
00:40:48
ongoing issue for many years.
00:40:52
Just under a week later, Barry returned
00:40:54
home. At first, he was calm and quiet,
00:40:58
but 5 days later, he is said to have
00:41:01
attacked his family again.
00:41:04
Police and paramedics attended the home,
00:41:06
and three of them had to hold Barry down
00:41:09
as he fought violently against them.
00:41:12
A pattern soon emerged throughout late
00:41:15
1987 where Barry would be taken to
00:41:18
hospital for a few days before being
00:41:20
released for a brief period and then
00:41:22
readmitted again.
00:41:25
This lack of stability and Barry's
00:41:27
aggression towards his children prompted
00:41:29
hospital staff to make a report to the
00:41:31
New South Wales Department of Family and
00:41:33
Community Services.
00:41:36
Barry's children were taken into
00:41:38
temporary foster care and provided with
00:41:40
counseling where terrible allegations
00:41:43
came to light.
00:41:49
[Music]
00:41:51
In January of 1988, Roseanne was
00:41:55
informed that during their counseling
00:41:57
sessions, Barry's children alleged that
00:41:59
they'd been sexually abused by their
00:42:01
father as well as another relative.
00:42:04
According to Roseanne, all of the
00:42:06
counselors who the children spoke to
00:42:09
believed their allegations and found
00:42:11
them credible.
00:42:13
Roseanne had never suspected sexual
00:42:15
abuse and was horrified by what she was
00:42:17
told.
00:42:19
There would be a police investigation
00:42:21
and Roseanne was informed that the
00:42:23
children would be split up into
00:42:25
different foster homes unless she was
00:42:27
willing to foster all four of them.
00:42:30
Roseanne agreed.
00:42:32
In March 1988, proceedings began to
00:42:36
grant Roseanne guardianship of Barry's
00:42:38
children.
00:42:39
By this stage, Barry was back in Trey,
00:42:42
but spent little time at his home.
00:42:47
2 months later, at the beginning of May,
00:42:49
an incident took place that would later
00:42:51
be framed as Roseanne attempting to kill
00:42:53
her husband.
00:42:55
There had been a dispute between
00:42:57
Roseanne's son Peter, his fellow
00:42:59
apprentice Jack Harris, and Barry's
00:43:01
nephew, Robert Tisdel.
00:43:04
Roseanne took both young men over to
00:43:06
Barry's sister, Mary's home, where
00:43:08
Robert lived so they could sort the
00:43:10
matter out. As soon as they arrived,
00:43:13
Mary began shouting at Roseanne, and she
00:43:16
realized it had been a mistake to stop
00:43:18
by.
00:43:21
Roseanne and the young man got back in
00:43:23
her car when Barry pulled up and raced
00:43:25
over to Roseanne's car door, pulling the
00:43:28
keys out of the ignition and punching
00:43:30
her in the head.
00:43:32
According to Roseanne, Peter and Jack
00:43:34
jumped out to restrain Barry, which led
00:43:36
to a scuffle between the three on the
00:43:39
front lawn. Meanwhile, Roseanne claimed
00:43:42
it was Mary who picked up a rock and
00:43:45
threw it at her.
00:43:47
She was able to dodge the blow, but it
00:43:49
still knocked the glasses off her face.
00:43:52
Mary then picked up the rock again and
00:43:55
went to throw it at Peter and Jack.
00:43:58
Roseanne shouted a warning, prompting
00:44:00
Peter and Jack to jump back.
00:44:04
The rock hit Barry instead, grazing his
00:44:07
head, and he was subsequently charged
00:44:09
with assault for hitting Roseanne during
00:44:12
this altercation.
00:44:14
The event was later dubbed the Rock
00:44:17
Incident with Barry and Mary testifying
00:44:20
that Roseanne had been the one to
00:44:22
deliberately throw the rock at Barry's
00:44:24
head and Roseanne was charged with
00:44:26
malicious wounding as a result.
00:44:30
[Music]
00:44:31
Immediately after this incident,
00:44:33
Roseanne obtained an apprehended
00:44:35
violence order to prevent Barry from
00:44:37
being in contact with her or their
00:44:39
children.
00:44:40
Barry subsequently moved into his office
00:44:42
across the street. The proximity of his
00:44:46
new home rendered the AVO effectively
00:44:48
useless, and Roseanne said he continued
00:44:51
to harass them all. He made abusive
00:44:54
phone calls to them constantly and
00:44:56
lurked across the street, shouting at
00:44:58
any visitors who came and went.
00:45:01
Sometimes Roseanne and the children
00:45:04
smelt cigarette smoke emanating from the
00:45:06
floorboards. And when they checked under
00:45:08
the house, they saw Barry hiding there
00:45:11
smoking.
00:45:13
Barry also resorted to cutting the
00:45:15
property's phone line, which repeatedly
00:45:18
had to be repaired.
00:45:20
Roseanne would notify the police when
00:45:22
Barry breached his AVO, but nothing was
00:45:25
done. He was eventually issued a $150
00:45:29
fine, but this didn't deter him, and he
00:45:32
maintained his campaign of harassment.
00:45:36
Meanwhile, the investigation into the
00:45:38
cat children's abuse allegations was
00:45:40
handed over to detectives from the
00:45:42
Newcastle Police Child Mistreatment
00:45:44
Unit, a squad that existed during the
00:45:46
late 1980s.
00:45:49
On Friday, February 10, 1989, Barry Cat
00:45:53
and another relative were each charged
00:45:55
with 15 counts of sexual assault.
00:46:01
One month later, on the weekend of
00:46:03
Saturday, March 11, Roseanne was
00:46:05
visiting the beachside city of Port
00:46:07
McQuary, about an hour's drive north
00:46:09
from Trey for a conference.
00:46:12
When she returned to her motel room that
00:46:15
night, she was shocked to find Barry
00:46:17
asleep in her bed. He had followed her
00:46:20
there.
00:46:22
Roseanne fled and went back to the
00:46:24
conference center. When she returned a
00:46:26
couple of hours later, Barry was gone.
00:46:31
The next day, she drove to Swan's
00:46:33
Crossing in the Carowong State Forest on
00:46:36
her way home, where she'd planned to
00:46:38
have a picnic.
00:46:40
Her adult children were driving the cat
00:46:42
children to join her.
00:46:45
Roseanne set up a picnic rug and was
00:46:47
waiting for the children to arrive when
00:46:50
she saw Barry striding towards her. She
00:46:53
told him to leave, but he didn't.
00:46:57
Instead, Roseanne said he began stabbing
00:46:59
the picnic rug with a small knife.
00:47:03
In turn, Roseanne stuck out her foot as
00:47:05
Barry walked towards her, causing him to
00:47:08
trip over.
00:47:10
He left shortly after uninjured, as far
00:47:13
as Roseanne was aware.
00:47:16
It was several days later that Barry
00:47:19
showed a wound on his abdomen to a
00:47:20
doctor who visited his auto repair shop,
00:47:23
claiming his wife had stabbed him during
00:47:25
a picnic.
00:47:27
Barry's version of this event became
00:47:30
known as the Swans Crossing incident,
00:47:32
the second incident in which Roseanne
00:47:34
was accused of trying to kill her
00:47:36
husband.
00:47:39
Another supposed took place 2 months
00:47:42
later on the morning of Saturday, May
00:47:44
6th.
00:47:45
Roseanne had been at home with the cat
00:47:47
children when the two boys discovered
00:47:49
they needed stationary supplies to
00:47:51
complete their schoolwork.
00:47:54
Believing their father was out, they
00:47:56
went over the road to his office to find
00:47:58
some, but Barry was there and he
00:48:02
confronted them aggressively.
00:48:04
Roseanne heard the children scream and
00:48:06
ran over to see what was the matter.
00:48:09
According to Roseanne, Barry grabbed a
00:48:12
bottle of eucalyptus oil from his desk
00:48:14
and threw it at her, hitting her in the
00:48:16
face. Her eyes burned from the oil.
00:48:20
Barry's son had been hit with the oil as
00:48:23
well.
00:48:25
Roseanne and the two boys fled from the
00:48:27
building with Barry hurling more items
00:48:30
at them as they ran. He was subsequently
00:48:33
arrested and held in custody for the
00:48:35
rest of the weekend.
00:48:37
He pleaded guilty to assault and to
00:48:39
breaching his AVO and was ordered to pay
00:48:42
a fine.
00:48:44
Barry later reframed this incident in
00:48:47
court, stating that Roseanne had been
00:48:49
the aggressor and had struck him with a
00:48:51
cricket bat.
00:48:54
Almost 3 months later, at the end of
00:48:57
July, Barry Cat had a committal hearing
00:48:59
regarding the 15 counts of sexual
00:49:01
assault he had been charged with.
00:49:04
After 2 days in court, he was committed
00:49:07
to stand trial on Tuesday, August 1,
00:49:10
1989.
00:49:12
At the same time, Adrienne Newell was
00:49:15
seeking to have Roseanne Cat
00:49:16
investigated for attempted murder and
00:49:19
suspected poisoning.
00:49:22
Rather than report his concerns to the
00:49:24
local Trey police, Adrien made
00:49:26
allegations that they were compromised
00:49:28
and sought to have an outside
00:49:30
investigator look into the case.
00:49:33
The problem was that the investigator
00:49:36
who was assigned was anything but an
00:49:39
impartial outsider.
00:49:45
Detective Peter Thomas first joined the
00:49:47
New South Wales Police in 1970.
00:49:51
When he was tasked with investigating
00:49:53
Adrien Newle's allegations in 1989, he
00:49:56
was stationed in Newcastle. But just a
00:49:59
few years earlier, he had been working
00:50:01
in Trey.
00:50:03
He already knew Adrienne Ule and Barry
00:50:06
Cat. In fact, Detective Thomas and Barry
00:50:09
Cat were friends.
00:50:11
Barry had come to the detective's aid
00:50:14
after the detective caused a car
00:50:16
accident that damaged another vehicle.
00:50:19
Barry had repaired the damaged vehicle
00:50:22
and helped strike a deal with its owner
00:50:24
that would prevent Detective Thomas
00:50:26
being held responsible for the crash.
00:50:29
Not only was Detective Thomas on good
00:50:32
terms with Barry Cat, but he knew
00:50:34
Roseanne Cat as well. They had crossed
00:50:37
paths some years before Roseanne met
00:50:40
Barry in late 1983.
00:50:44
By then, Roseanne had been running her
00:50:46
delicatessan in downtown Tari for 2
00:50:49
years.
00:50:51
At 3:00 a.m. on Christmas morning of
00:50:53
that year, she received a call informing
00:50:56
her that her business was on fire and
00:50:58
had been severely damaged.
00:51:01
Initially, it was indicated that the
00:51:03
fire was due to an electrical fault.
00:51:06
But Roseanne soon fell under suspicion
00:51:09
for Rson, and the detective
00:51:12
investigating her was Peter Thomas.
00:51:16
There was very little evidence to
00:51:18
indicate that Roseanne had burnt her
00:51:20
business down. She had actually cut back
00:51:23
on her business's insurance policies
00:51:26
just 2 months earlier.
00:51:28
And there was an alternative suspect.
00:51:32
It turned out that the owner of the
00:51:34
building where the delicates was located
00:51:37
had recently been ordered by the local
00:51:39
council to undertake renovations to
00:51:41
comply with fire regulations.
00:51:44
These renovations would have cost
00:51:47
$60,000.
00:51:49
The owner didn't take any steps to bring
00:51:51
the building up to fire code.
00:51:54
Instead, they took out two new insurance
00:51:57
policies, one that covered the building
00:52:00
and another for loss of rent.
00:52:04
The security guard who'd first noticed
00:52:06
the fire also reported that he'd seen
00:52:09
something unusual while doing a patrol
00:52:11
at 2:00 a.m. The building's security
00:52:15
light had been out, so the guard went to
00:52:18
take a closer look.
00:52:20
Drawing near to the building, he saw the
00:52:22
owner was there with another person he
00:52:25
didn't recognize.
00:52:27
The security guard had offered to fix
00:52:29
the broken light, but the owner refused
00:52:31
his offer, explaining that they just
00:52:33
come down to the building to pick up
00:52:35
something they'd left behind earlier
00:52:37
that day.
00:52:39
This seemed strange to the security
00:52:41
guard given the late hour, but he left
00:52:44
without further questions.
00:52:47
Half an hour later, he had been driving
00:52:49
down Tre's main road when he saw smoke
00:52:52
coming from the building.
00:52:55
The security guard reported this to the
00:52:57
police, but Detective Thomas still
00:53:00
arrested Roseanne.
00:53:04
According to Roseanne, Detective Thomas
00:53:06
had behaved inappropriately towards her
00:53:09
during the investigation, calling her
00:53:11
persistently and repeatedly at home.
00:53:15
He sexually harassed her by making
00:53:17
suggestive remarks and saying that the
00:53:19
Dolly Parton and Kenny Rogers duet
00:53:22
Islands in the Stream could be our song.
00:53:26
At one point during an interview, he
00:53:28
made LWD remarks about Roseanne's body
00:53:31
before pulling out his wallet and
00:53:33
running his fingers across the cash
00:53:34
inside.
00:53:36
Roseanne took this to mean that to make
00:53:39
the case go away, she would either have
00:53:41
to sleep with him or pay him off.
00:53:45
Roseanne also noticed that Detective
00:53:47
Thomas often rire of alcohol.
00:53:51
Roseanne and her business partner were
00:53:53
ultimately charged with arson and
00:53:55
subsequently received no insurance money
00:53:58
for the damage. However, the building's
00:54:01
owner received a full payout.
00:54:04
While on bail, Roseanne managed to
00:54:06
repair the delicates and reopened it
00:54:09
with support from family and friends.
00:54:12
Eventually, there was a committal
00:54:14
hearing for harassing charges.
00:54:17
The prosecution's case fell apart when
00:54:19
the owner gave evidence, and it emerged
00:54:22
that they had been seen outside the
00:54:23
building immediately before the fire
00:54:26
started.
00:54:28
The owner also struggled to answer
00:54:30
questions about why they had increased
00:54:32
their insurance immediately preceding
00:54:34
the fire.
00:54:36
Ultimately, the attorney general opted
00:54:38
against indicting Roseanne and the
00:54:41
charges against her were dropped.
00:54:47
Not long after the fire, a man named
00:54:49
Errol Taylor paid Roseanne a visit at
00:54:51
the delicatessan.
00:54:53
He explained he'd also had a problematic
00:54:56
encounter with Detective Thomas.
00:54:59
Errol had been accused of growing and
00:55:01
supplying cannabis after a plantation
00:55:03
was discovered in a state forest near
00:55:06
his home. Errol had been arrested and
00:55:09
taken into custody where Detective
00:55:11
Thomas handcuffed him to a desk for 16
00:55:14
hours. He also punched Errol in the face
00:55:17
several times.
00:55:19
Errol could smell alcohol on the
00:55:21
detective's breath.
00:55:24
Furious about the way he had been
00:55:26
treated, Errol Taylor began putting
00:55:28
together a report for the New South
00:55:30
Wales Ombbudsman, an independent
00:55:32
integrity officer responsible for
00:55:34
investigating complaints against the
00:55:36
government.
00:55:38
Errol had heard of other incidents
00:55:40
Detective Thomas had been involved in,
00:55:42
including Roseanne's case, and invited
00:55:44
her to join him in filing a complaint.
00:55:48
Roseanne agreed.
00:55:51
Roseanne's job at the Delicatessan made
00:55:53
her well known and trusted in town, and
00:55:56
she soon found that other locals began
00:55:59
disclosing their own stories about
00:56:01
Detective Thomas to her.
00:56:03
There were reports that he had assaulted
00:56:05
people and engaged in corrupt practices,
00:56:08
such as paying witnesses off. He had
00:56:11
also been in several car accidents when
00:56:13
he drove police vehicles while drunk.
00:56:17
As people in Trey learned that Errol and
00:56:20
Roseanne were filing official
00:56:22
complaints, more and more joined in with
00:56:24
concerns of their own.
00:56:27
In the end, between 20 and 30 complaints
00:56:30
were included in Errol Taylor's report,
00:56:33
which led to an inquiry being held.
00:56:36
The inquiry was ultimately inconclusive,
00:56:39
but it did lead to detective Peter
00:56:41
Thomas being transferred from Trey to
00:56:44
Newcastle.
00:56:46
While he wasn't demoted, his promotion
00:56:48
to detective sergeant had been delayed
00:56:51
by 2 years.
00:56:53
The fact that he'd been investigated at
00:56:55
all would make any further promotions
00:56:57
more difficult to come by.
00:57:01
After Detective Thomas was relocated to
00:57:03
Newcastle, Roseanne didn't see or hear
00:57:06
of him for a couple of years.
00:57:08
When she first married Barry Cat, she
00:57:11
had no idea how close he was with the
00:57:14
detective.
00:57:15
After she left Barry and he was charged
00:57:18
with abusing his children, Barry began
00:57:21
making threats that directly referenced
00:57:23
Detective Thomas.
00:57:25
By early August 1989, Barry had been
00:57:29
ordered to stand trial on the abuse
00:57:31
charges.
00:57:33
Roseanne retained custody of Barry's
00:57:35
children as well as control of Catt's
00:57:38
body repairs. She was made trustee of
00:57:41
the auto repair shop and given
00:57:43
permission to remain living at the
00:57:44
family home with the cat children.
00:57:48
A couple of days later, Roseanne
00:57:50
received a call from Barry. During which
00:57:53
he stated,
00:57:55
"You're sitting on a time bomb. Tommo
00:57:58
and I have got it all worked out. We're
00:58:00
going to change the charges from me to
00:58:03
you."
00:58:05
Roseanne knew that Tommo was Barry's
00:58:08
nickname for Detective Peter Thomas.
00:58:11
Some of Roseanne's friends warned her
00:58:13
about the connection between the two men
00:58:15
as well. Errol Taylor, who had filed the
00:58:18
complaint against the detective,
00:58:20
encouraged Roseanne to leave Trey in mid
00:58:22
August. He had often heard Barry Cat
00:58:26
boast about how Detective Thomas owed
00:58:28
him a favor and would do anything he
00:58:31
asked.
00:58:33
On Thursday, August 24, just 2 weeks
00:58:36
after retaining custody of the children
00:58:39
and being made trustee of the auto
00:58:41
repair shop, Detective Thomas turned up
00:58:43
at Roseanne's front door, armed with a
00:58:46
search warrant and accompanied by a
00:58:48
large group of police officers.
00:58:55
Roseanne Cat found herself charged with
00:58:58
14 offenses, including assault,
00:59:00
malicious wounding, solicitation to
00:59:02
murder, attempted poisoning, and
00:59:04
possession of an unlicensed pistol.
00:59:08
Around the same time that her husband
00:59:10
Barry would be facing court for sexual
00:59:12
assault, she would be going to trial for
00:59:14
trying to kill him.
00:59:17
Barry Cat's trial began in November
00:59:20
1990.
00:59:22
Roseanne's testimony was attacked by the
00:59:24
defense, who introduced evidence aimed
00:59:27
to undermine her credibility, such as
00:59:29
photographs of Roseanne at parties and
00:59:32
witnesses set to testify against
00:59:35
Roseanne at her own impending trial.
00:59:38
It was suggested that Roseanne had been
00:59:41
the mastermind behind the sexual abuse
00:59:43
allegations, hypnotizing or brainwashing
00:59:46
Barry's children into believing they had
00:59:48
been abused as a way of commanding
00:59:50
control over his business and other
00:59:52
assets.
00:59:54
Detective Peter Thomas testified in
00:59:56
defense of Barry and other witnesses who
00:59:59
had initially provided statements in
01:00:00
support of the charges suddenly changed
01:00:03
their stories.
01:00:06
One such witness was a woman named Marie
01:00:08
Whan. She had known Barry Cat for a long
01:00:11
time and had worked as his housekeeper.
01:00:14
In late July 1989, Marie had signed a
01:00:18
statement confirming that she had
01:00:19
witnessed Barry abuse his children.
01:00:22
A few days later, she'd also obtained an
01:00:24
AVO against Barry.
01:00:27
But in court more than a year later, she
01:00:30
changed her story, saying that her
01:00:32
signed statement was a forgery and that
01:00:34
she'd never witnessed any abuse of the
01:00:36
children.
01:00:38
In a memoir Roseanne later published,
01:00:41
she described Barry's trial as a farce.
01:00:44
Quote, "We had this ridiculous situation
01:00:48
where if the crown won, it would destroy
01:00:50
their upcoming case against me, in which
01:00:53
I was supposed to be an evil
01:00:55
manipulator.
01:00:57
I was a crown witness in this case and
01:00:59
Barry was a crown witness in mine.
01:01:03
Only one could win.
01:01:08
The trial lasted 2 weeks. In closing,
01:01:11
the crown prosecutor informed the judge
01:01:14
that they would not be encouraging the
01:01:16
jury to convict Barry due to
01:01:18
unsatisfactory evidence.
01:01:21
This led to Barry Cat being found not
01:01:23
guilty of all charges.
01:01:27
Roseanne's trial began 5 months later.
01:01:31
Barry was the star witness, testifying
01:01:34
for days on the stand about how Roseanne
01:01:36
repeatedly threatened, verbally abused,
01:01:39
and assaulted him. He said she had told
01:01:42
him that she planned to have him killed
01:01:45
despite the fact that he loved her and
01:01:47
thought she was fabulous.
01:01:50
Barry accused Roseanne of separating him
01:01:53
from his children, claiming he hadn't
01:01:55
seen them in 18 months.
01:01:57
Other witnesses supported Barry's
01:02:00
claims, including several people who had
01:02:02
previously made statements to the
01:02:04
contrary.
01:02:06
Jack Harris, one of Barry's apprentices,
01:02:09
had originally supported Roseanne and
01:02:11
her son's version of the rockthrowing
01:02:13
incident during the initial police
01:02:15
investigation.
01:02:17
But in court, he took Barry's side and
01:02:20
also claimed Roseanne had asked him to
01:02:23
kill Barry.
01:02:25
Then there were the charges related to
01:02:28
attempted poisoning. Barry's friend,
01:02:31
Adrienne, had said he suspected Roseanne
01:02:33
was drugging Barry because of how
01:02:35
strangely Barry was behaving.
01:02:38
When Adrien took several beverages from
01:02:40
Barry's office fridge and had them
01:02:42
tested, it was found that they had been
01:02:45
spiked with lithium and clinzipam.
01:02:48
Yet during the period when Roseanne was
01:02:51
supposedly drugging Barry, he was having
01:02:53
blood tests every 3 weeks as part of his
01:02:56
psychiatric treatment. His levels for
01:02:59
lithium and clinazipam always came back
01:03:01
as normal.
01:03:04
As for the pistol found in Roseanne's
01:03:06
home, the defense alleged that Detective
01:03:09
Peter Thomas had planted it there as
01:03:11
part of a conspiracy to frame Roseanne.
01:03:15
The pistol had been dusted for
01:03:16
fingerprints, but had none on it at all.
01:03:20
The rifle recovered from Roseanne's
01:03:22
wardrobe had actually belonged to Barry,
01:03:25
and one of his children had stored it
01:03:27
there.
01:03:29
The defense argued that Roseanne was the
01:03:32
victim of collusion between many of the
01:03:34
prosecution witnesses and presented her
01:03:37
version of events. Roseanne testified
01:03:40
about Barry's fits of anger and violent
01:03:42
rages. She provided a different
01:03:45
perspective on all of the incidents she
01:03:47
had been charged for, asserting that she
01:03:50
was the victim, not Barry.
01:03:53
All of Barry's children supported
01:03:55
Roseanne at her trial. One of his
01:03:58
daughters detailed how her father had
01:04:00
always been abusive, punching his
01:04:02
children and sometimes swerving his car
01:04:05
at them while they walked to school.
01:04:08
She also said that when she was younger,
01:04:10
police officers had visited her family
01:04:12
home to watch pornographic films with
01:04:15
her father. Detective Thomas had been
01:04:18
one of them.
01:04:21
The teen went on to state that she and
01:04:23
her siblings regularly drank the
01:04:25
beverages stored in her father's office
01:04:27
fridge and they never noticed anything
01:04:29
strange about them. Nor had Roseanne
01:04:31
ever warned them to steer clear of them.
01:04:35
A doctor testified that orange juice or
01:04:37
milk spiked with lithium would have
01:04:39
tasted very bitter and unpleasant.
01:04:43
At the end of the 4-month trial, the
01:04:46
judge advised the jury that they would
01:04:48
need to decide whether Roseanne Cat was
01:04:51
an evil, manipulative woman or the
01:04:54
victim of a monstrous conspiracy.
01:04:58
Seemingly convinced by the number of
01:05:01
witnesses who had testified against
01:05:03
Roseanne, the jury opted for the former,
01:05:06
finding her guilty of eight of the nine
01:05:09
charges.
01:05:15
[Music]
01:05:17
Roseanne appealed her conviction in
01:05:19
1993, but lost. She stopped using her
01:05:23
married surname and reverted to her
01:05:25
maiden name, Roseanne Beckett.
01:05:28
Meanwhile, Barry Cat and Detective Peter
01:05:31
Thomas went on with their lives.
01:05:34
In 1993, Barry applied to the state's
01:05:37
victim's compensation board for damage
01:05:40
caused by Roseanne.
01:05:42
He was ultimately paid $89,000 for his
01:05:46
injuries, even though the evidence he'd
01:05:48
provided was inconsistent with medical
01:05:51
evidence.
01:05:53
Barry Catat's children continued to
01:05:55
support Roseanne in the years
01:05:57
immediately following her conviction and
01:05:59
resided for some time with Roseanne's
01:06:02
sister.
01:06:03
Their world had been upended by
01:06:05
Roseanne's conviction.
01:06:08
After she was first arrested, Adrienne
01:06:11
had taken custody of them. Detective
01:06:14
Thomas refused to tell the Department of
01:06:16
Family and Community Services where the
01:06:18
children were staying.
01:06:21
Social workers also reported being
01:06:23
subject to ongoing intimidation and
01:06:25
threats from Detective Thomas.
01:06:28
One even gave evidence that Barry Cat
01:06:31
had threatened to rape her.
01:06:34
This prompted the Department of Family
01:06:36
and Community Services to file a
01:06:38
complaint against Detective Thomas,
01:06:40
which led to another internal review by
01:06:42
New South Wales Police.
01:06:45
What the jury at Roseanne's trial hadn't
01:06:48
known was that in the months before
01:06:50
Thomas took the stand to testify against
01:06:53
Roseanne, he had been under
01:06:54
investigation for misconduct and
01:06:57
violation of child protection orders.
01:07:01
There had also been another allegation
01:07:03
made against him related to a drug case.
01:07:06
Thomas had reportedly said he would
01:07:08
destroy evidence in exchange for
01:07:11
$30,000.
01:07:14
Internal Affairs was just about to
01:07:16
charge Thomas with a disciplinary
01:07:18
offense when he suddenly resigned in
01:07:20
January of 1991.
01:07:23
Once he left the police, Thomas was no
01:07:25
longer under their jurisdiction and the
01:07:28
investigation was dropped.
01:07:31
It had been the fourth such adverse
01:07:33
finding into Thomas's conduct during his
01:07:36
21-year career, in addition to the
01:07:38
dozens of complaints he'd been the
01:07:40
subject of.
01:07:42
Facing no consequences, Thomas relocated
01:07:45
north to the neighboring state of
01:07:47
Queensland and entered the private
01:07:49
sector.
01:07:51
He became a private inquiry agent hired
01:07:53
by insurance agencies to investigate
01:07:55
fires they had received claims for.
01:07:59
Investigating arson had been Thomas's
01:08:01
specialty while employed as a police
01:08:03
officer, even though his work there had
01:08:06
been checkered at best.
01:08:10
In addition to the 1983 fire at
01:08:12
Roseanne's Delicatessan, which Thomas
01:08:14
charged her for, despite a total lack of
01:08:17
evidence, there had been several other
01:08:19
controversial investigations he was
01:08:21
responsible for.
01:08:23
In 1987, Thomas arrested a hotel owner
01:08:27
for arson. This charge was later dropped
01:08:30
due to the extremely weak circumstantial
01:08:32
evidence.
01:08:34
In another case from 1989, Thomas
01:08:37
charged a couple with planting a
01:08:39
firebomb at their restaurant.
01:08:42
Covert recordings later revealed that
01:08:45
Thomas had promised the wife she could
01:08:47
walk if she helped implicate her
01:08:49
husband, stating, "In the long run, we
01:08:53
will shake the life out of both of you."
01:08:57
The couple was acquitted after Thomas
01:08:59
left the force with a judge describing
01:09:02
his evidence as patently insufficient
01:09:05
and his conduct as reprehensible.
01:09:10
Despite Thomas' history of problematic
01:09:12
arson investigations, he did well in the
01:09:15
insurance industry, which was far more
01:09:17
lucrative than working for the police.
01:09:21
Because insurance companies had a vested
01:09:23
interest in not paying out policies,
01:09:25
Thomas received $10,000 every time his
01:09:29
work led to a customer's claim being
01:09:31
rejected.
01:09:33
He quickly climbed the career ladder and
01:09:36
from 1993 to 1995, he served as
01:09:39
president of the Queensland Association
01:09:41
of Fire Investigators.
01:09:45
But just as it had in New South Wales, a
01:09:48
familiar pattern of complaints and
01:09:50
concerns about Thomas' methods soon
01:09:52
emerged.
01:09:58
In 1993, Brisbane couple Bruce and Beth
01:10:02
Gutage suffered a terrible tragedy when
01:10:04
their beautiful heritage home burnt
01:10:07
down.
01:10:08
The grand residence had originally been
01:10:11
built in the 1860s, and the couple had
01:10:14
spent 15 years restoring it. Beth had
01:10:18
been home alone when the fire broke out,
01:10:20
and she escaped the blaze unharmed,
01:10:24
but the house was destroyed with the
01:10:26
damages estimated at $2 million.
01:10:30
As Bruce Gutage was a Vietnam War
01:10:32
veteran, the property had been insured
01:10:35
with Defense Service Homes, which was
01:10:37
owned by the federal government.
01:10:40
They engaged the agency Peter Thomas was
01:10:43
working with at the time to investigate
01:10:45
the fire, and Thomas led the
01:10:48
investigation.
01:10:50
Thomas soon became convinced that Beth
01:10:52
Gutteridge had deliberately lit the
01:10:54
fire.
01:10:56
Years earlier, Beth had suffered a
01:10:58
skiing accident that left her with
01:11:00
chronic pain.
01:11:02
To manage this pain, her doctor
01:11:04
prescribed her a strong tranquilizer,
01:11:06
which was primarily used to treat mental
01:11:09
illnesses.
01:11:11
Thomas decided that Beth was unstable
01:11:14
and had lit the fire because she hated
01:11:17
the house.
01:11:18
He pressured witnesses to agree with
01:11:21
him, prompting at least one person to
01:11:23
warn the gutteres about Thomas's
01:11:25
methods.
01:11:28
There was no physical evidence to
01:11:29
corroborate Thomas' theory, which Beth's
01:11:32
loved one said was ridiculous. She had
01:11:35
adored her house. But Thomas was so
01:11:39
certain that he even took the matter to
01:11:41
Queensland police and managed to
01:11:43
convince them to look into it.
01:11:46
This led to an inquiry by the coroner
01:11:49
who found the gutteres had no case to
01:11:52
answer.
01:11:54
Regardless, the process had been
01:11:56
traumatic with Beth's private medical
01:11:58
history made public.
01:12:01
The Gutages later sued their insurer and
01:12:04
settled in the Supreme Court.
01:12:07
Bruce Gutage said he had been fortunate
01:12:09
to have the financial resources to
01:12:11
pursue the matter. Those who didn't
01:12:14
might not have been as lucky.
01:12:18
In a subsequent case, Peter Thomas
01:12:21
accused an invalid pensioner of burning
01:12:23
down his home. The pensioner faced
01:12:26
criminal charges which he was acquitted
01:12:29
of, but he didn't receive his insurance
01:12:31
payout.
01:12:33
The same happened to another homeowner
01:12:36
in 1997.
01:12:38
In 1998, a baker in central Queensland
01:12:41
had his business satellite after
01:12:43
burglars broke in, attacked him, and
01:12:46
tied him up.
01:12:48
Firefighters had to use bulk cutters to
01:12:50
set him free.
01:12:53
Thomas was tasked with investigating and
01:12:55
concluded that the baker was
01:12:57
responsible.
01:12:59
This led to a police inquiry and
01:13:01
insurance money once again being denied.
01:13:06
In another case where a pub burned down,
01:13:08
a woman who was friends with its owner
01:13:10
said Thomas had offered her $10,000 if
01:13:13
she would say the owner had admitted to
01:13:15
lighting the fire himself.
01:13:18
She refused, and there was no evidence
01:13:20
the pub owner had lit the fire.
01:13:23
In fact, one month before the blaze, he
01:13:26
had spent almost $100,000
01:13:29
refurbishing it.
01:13:31
The fire was thought to have been caused
01:13:33
by an electric blanket a guest had
01:13:35
admitted to using.
01:13:38
It later emerged that Thomas had paid
01:13:40
the guest $1,000 to say he'd never used
01:13:44
the electric blanket.
01:13:47
Eventually, Thomas's antics caught the
01:13:49
attention of the press. On Saturday,
01:13:52
October 21, 2000, Sydney Morning Herald
01:13:56
journalist Wendy Bacon published a story
01:13:59
about Peter Thomas's work as a private
01:14:01
fire investigator.
01:14:03
This was followed 3 days later with a
01:14:06
feature article about Roseanne's case
01:14:08
headlined, "Should this woman be in
01:14:11
jail?"
01:14:13
That same week, the ABC's current
01:14:16
affairs program, Four Corners, released
01:14:18
an episode called Burned, in which a
01:14:21
number of witnesses spoke openly about
01:14:23
their dealings with Thomas, calling him
01:14:26
slime, a conman, and a liar.
01:14:30
Roseanne Beckett's friend, Errol Taylor,
01:14:32
was one of these witnesses, telling Four
01:14:35
Corners about his own experiences with
01:14:37
Peter Thomas almost 20 years earlier.
01:14:41
The episode also explored Roseanne's
01:14:43
case with the show's host Sally Neighbor
01:14:46
stating
01:14:48
the arrest and conviction of Roseanne
01:14:50
Cat was the crowning achievement of
01:14:52
detective Peter Thomas.
01:14:55
It was announced that a new defense
01:14:57
attorney had taken on Roseanne as a
01:14:59
client and he was requesting a new
01:15:02
inquiry into the case.
01:15:07
In addition to the countless complaints
01:15:09
of corruption and misconduct against
01:15:11
Peter Thomas, Roseanne's defense team
01:15:14
had uncovered a new witness who was
01:15:16
willing to provide a sworn statement.
01:15:19
When Peter Thomas first started working
01:15:21
as a private arson investigator in
01:15:23
Queensland, he had worked alongside a
01:15:25
man named Peter Caesar.
01:15:28
Peter Caesar told Roseanne's attorney
01:15:30
that Thomas had boasted about his days
01:15:32
in New South Wales police, bragging
01:15:35
about occasions where he had people
01:15:37
bashed and kneecapped.
01:15:40
But the topic Thomas seemed most fixated
01:15:43
on was that of Roseanne Beckett.
01:15:46
He had an open fixation with her,
01:15:49
speaking about her often and still
01:15:51
carrying her case file with him despite
01:15:54
having left the police.
01:15:56
He even admitted to framing Roseanne,
01:15:59
telling Peter Caesar,
01:16:02
"It's common knowledge I planted the gun
01:16:04
on the bitch."
01:16:07
This act of planting a pistol in
01:16:09
Roseanne's home was something Thomas
01:16:11
boasted of frequently.
01:16:13
He'd also bragged,
01:16:15
"If you get three or four good guys
01:16:18
around you, basically plan your attack
01:16:20
in court, everyone sticks to their
01:16:22
story, and the person's charged and
01:16:25
jailed."
01:16:28
Peter Caesar had seen firsthand how
01:16:30
intimidating Thomas could be.
01:16:33
Once he clashed with a woman who worked
01:16:35
in their office and threatened to do her
01:16:38
in.
01:16:39
After a female coworker filed a sexual
01:16:42
harassment claim against Thomas, he told
01:16:45
her he would set her up like he did that
01:16:47
[ __ ]
01:16:49
Peter eventually fell out with Thomas
01:16:51
after Thomas attacked him while drunk,
01:16:54
then later threatened to send the police
01:16:56
after him.
01:16:59
Peter Caesar's statement was fresh
01:17:01
evidence that could be used to reopen
01:17:03
Roseanne Beckett's case.
01:17:06
It was filed alongside dozens of other
01:17:08
affidavit from witnesses who were
01:17:10
prepared to give evidence in Roseanne's
01:17:12
defense.
01:17:14
After reviewing the evidence, the New
01:17:16
South Wales Attorney General referred
01:17:18
the case to the Court of Criminal Appeal
01:17:20
for a review.
01:17:23
On Monday, August 6th, 2001, Roseanne
01:17:26
was released from prison, having served
01:17:29
10 years of her 12-year sentence.
01:17:33
The judge who released her addressed the
01:17:35
new evidence that had been submitted,
01:17:37
noting that it could indicate something
01:17:40
went very wrong with this trial.
01:17:47
The review of Roseanne's case didn't
01:17:49
begin until early February 2003, a year
01:17:52
and a half after her release.
01:17:55
Many shocking revelations came to light,
01:17:58
such as the fact that the Internal
01:18:00
Affairs Department at New South Wales
01:18:02
Police had found that Peter Thomas
01:18:04
should be charged with misconduct before
01:18:06
Roseanne's trial even began.
01:18:10
At one point, Thomas had been ordered
01:18:12
off the case by his superiors.
01:18:15
He protested, claiming the order was
01:18:17
unlawful and was ultimately permitted to
01:18:20
continue leading the investigation.
01:18:24
Multiple judges had also called out the
01:18:26
fact that the case's lead detective had
01:18:28
a history with Roseanne and felt intense
01:18:31
acrimony towards her.
01:18:34
A judge who had granted Roseanne Bale
01:18:36
prior to the trial had said that the
01:18:38
case should be handed over to a more
01:18:40
neutral investigator in the interests of
01:18:42
justice.
01:18:44
The trial judge had remarked,
01:18:47
"If there was any member of the New
01:18:49
South Wales police who should not have
01:18:51
been assigned to the case, it was Peter
01:18:54
Thomas due to his history of antagonism
01:18:56
with Roseanne Cat."
01:18:59
Evidence suggested that Peter Thomas
01:19:02
hadn't even conducted the investigation
01:19:03
at the local police station. He had
01:19:06
based it out of an unoccupied house
01:19:08
owned by Adrien Newell, Barry Catat's
01:19:11
close friend.
01:19:13
Multiple witnesses had been taken to
01:19:15
this house and interrogated for hours at
01:19:17
a time with no official oversight from
01:19:20
New South Wales police.
01:19:23
A woman named Marie Whan had originally
01:19:26
supported Roseanne's case, providing a
01:19:28
sworn statement that she had witnessed
01:19:30
Barry Cat abuse his children. She also
01:19:33
took out an AVO against Barry, whom she
01:19:36
had previously been involved with.
01:19:39
It was alleged that on Wednesday, August
01:19:42
23, 1989, the day before the police
01:19:46
would raid Roseanne's house, Detective
01:19:48
Thomas and one of his colleagues picked
01:19:50
up Marie and escorted her to the
01:19:52
residence owned by Adrienne.
01:19:56
They spent 3 and 1/2 hours interviewing
01:19:59
her, then wrote up statements for her to
01:20:01
sign.
01:20:03
These statements reiged on the initial
01:20:05
version Marie had provided and instead
01:20:08
claimed that Roseanne had told Marie of
01:20:11
her plans to buy a gun.
01:20:14
Roseanne denies any such conversation
01:20:16
ever took place.
01:20:19
After this incident, Marie Whan told at
01:20:21
least four people that she had been
01:20:23
taken away by the police and made to
01:20:26
sign statements that weren't true.
01:20:29
She was terrified.
01:20:32
Jack Harris was taken to the same house.
01:20:35
He was a witness to the rockthrowing
01:20:38
incident, a violent altercation at the
01:20:40
home of Barry Cat's sister, which had
01:20:42
led to Barry being charged with assault
01:20:44
and Roseanne accused of attempted
01:20:46
murder.
01:20:48
Jack's version of events initially
01:20:50
aligned with Roseanne's and that of her
01:20:53
son, Peter.
01:20:55
The same day that Detective Thomas and a
01:20:58
colleague took Marie Whan to the
01:20:59
deserted house, they picked Jack Harris
01:21:02
up from his workplace and drove him to
01:21:04
the same property.
01:21:07
Thomas told Jack, "If you are telling
01:21:10
lies and we find out, you will be
01:21:12
charged with perjury."
01:21:15
After that, Jack changed his story. He
01:21:19
also suddenly claimed that Roseanne had
01:21:22
tried to solicit him to kill Barry.
01:21:27
There were questions raised when it came
01:21:29
to the solicitation of murder charges
01:21:31
Roseanne was convicted of.
01:21:34
Aboriginal liaison officer James Morris
01:21:36
had been one of several men who'd
01:21:38
accused Roseanne of trying to hire him
01:21:40
to kill Barry.
01:21:42
He said Roseanne had proposed the idea
01:21:45
to him while they were both out at the
01:21:47
local RSL.
01:21:49
Although Morris knew Barry well,
01:21:52
Roseanne didn't know Morris and
01:21:54
completely denied that the conversation
01:21:56
had ever taken place.
01:21:59
Another witness who had seen both
01:22:01
Roseanne and James Morris at the RSL on
01:22:03
the night in question said that Morris
01:22:06
had been extremely drunk and there had
01:22:08
been no conversation between him and
01:22:10
Roseanne.
01:22:13
Barry's friend Vernon had also accused
01:22:15
Roseanne of asking him to kill Barry for
01:22:18
money.
01:22:19
While he never reported this alleged
01:22:22
solicitation to the police, he made a
01:22:24
statement about it after Detective
01:22:26
Thomas and others visited him at his
01:22:28
home.
01:22:30
Allegations that Roseanne poisoned Barry
01:22:33
were also found to be questionable.
01:22:36
The levels of lithium and clinazipam
01:22:39
found in the drinks Adrien collected
01:22:41
from Barry's work office were so high
01:22:43
they exceeded the amount of drugs Barry
01:22:45
had been prescribed.
01:22:48
Whoever had spiked the drinks had access
01:22:50
to more pills than Barry was ever given.
01:22:55
At Roseanne's trial, a detective had
01:22:58
testified to having found two pill
01:23:00
bottles in Roseanne's purse when her
01:23:02
home was searched.
01:23:04
One was labeled lithium and the other
01:23:07
was labeled Ravitrol, a brand name of
01:23:10
Clinazipam.
01:23:12
This was presented as proof that
01:23:14
Roseanne had access to the medications
01:23:16
and was using them to spike Barry's
01:23:19
drinks.
01:23:21
The problem was photos from the search
01:23:23
showed no images of the purse or the
01:23:26
bottles. Neither were they recorded in
01:23:29
the police exhibit book.
01:23:32
The defense's position was dealt a major
01:23:35
setback when the cat children, now
01:23:37
adults, denied any abuse had occurred
01:23:40
and claimed Roseanne had influenced
01:23:43
their earlier accounts.
01:23:46
They had vehemently supported Roseanne
01:23:48
for years after her conviction, but
01:23:50
gradually lost contact with her.
01:23:54
In 1993, just before Roseanne's
01:23:57
unsuccessful appeal, the crown
01:23:59
prosecutor, Patrick Power, and police
01:24:02
spoke to one of Barry's children.
01:24:05
He subsequently withdrew his previous
01:24:07
allegations of sexual abuse and adopted
01:24:10
the Crown's case that Roseanne had
01:24:12
brainwashed him and his siblings.
01:24:15
So did one of Barry's daughters.
01:24:19
The cat children gave evidence at the
01:24:21
inquiry, claiming that back in 1989,
01:24:24
Roseanne had ordered them to crush
01:24:26
tablets and pour them into Barry's food
01:24:28
and drinks.
01:24:30
The defense argued that the cat children
01:24:33
were unreliable witnesses due to having
01:24:35
changed their stories.
01:24:38
There was also a problematic factor when
01:24:40
it came to Crown Prosecutor Patrick
01:24:42
Power.
01:24:44
In 2006, Power was found to have a large
01:24:47
amount of child abuse material in his
01:24:50
possession.
01:24:51
He was charged for this crime, pleaded
01:24:54
guilty, and sentenced to 15 months.
01:24:58
Roseanne's advocates pointed out the
01:25:00
inappropriateness of such a man speaking
01:25:03
with alleged survivors of child sexual
01:25:05
abuse.
01:25:10
Although it had likely been clear to the
01:25:12
jury at Roseanne's trial that Peter
01:25:14
Thomas had disliked Roseanne, they
01:25:17
hadn't known the extent of it. Nor had
01:25:20
they known just how renowned the
01:25:22
detective was for bribing, threatening,
01:25:24
and intimidating witnesses into
01:25:26
providing the testimony he wanted.
01:25:30
In 2004, it seemed clear to many that
01:25:33
this corrupt approach was persisting to
01:25:36
the present day.
01:25:38
Several defense witnesses reported being
01:25:40
threatened after they had agreed to give
01:25:42
evidence at Roseanne's new inquiry.
01:25:46
A tre woman named Patricia testified
01:25:49
about Barry Cat's pattern of violent
01:25:51
behavior towards women. After Patricia
01:25:54
rejected Barry's romantic advances in
01:25:57
the late 1990s, he stalked her for 2
01:25:59
years, attacked her with an iron bar,
01:26:02
and punched her in the face.
01:26:05
Patricia had Barry charged with assault,
01:26:08
but the Tre Chamber magistrate, who was
01:26:10
friends with Barry, refused to take the
01:26:12
case further.
01:26:15
Barry also made incessant phone calls to
01:26:18
Patricia, calling her 70 times in a
01:26:21
5-day period.
01:26:23
Terrified, Patricia recorded many of
01:26:25
these calls, which frequently featured
01:26:27
angry rants and threats of violence.
01:26:31
Sometimes he spoke of Roseanne.
01:26:35
After Roseanne was released and granted
01:26:37
a new inquiry, Barry told Patricia,
01:26:41
"I set her up, sent her to jail for 11
01:26:44
years."
01:26:46
He mentioned that he, Peter Thomas, and
01:26:49
some other acquaintances would fix it up
01:26:51
so that Roseanne would be returned to
01:26:53
prison for an even longer sentence.
01:26:57
After Patricia returned home from
01:26:59
testifying at Roseanne's inquiry, she
01:27:02
found her pet dog hanging dead at her
01:27:04
property.
01:27:06
Some documents and tapes she needed for
01:27:08
an upcoming court case were missing.
01:27:13
Another Tre witness said that Barry Cat
01:27:16
had once asked him to obtain a gun so
01:27:18
that Barry could arrange for Roseanne to
01:27:20
be shot in prison.
01:27:23
After word got out that he would be
01:27:25
testifying at Roseanne's inquiry, two
01:27:28
men approached him and handed over a
01:27:30
bullet, which he took as a threat.
01:27:34
Phone records revealed that key
01:27:36
prosecution witnesses had been in near
01:27:38
constant contact with one another
01:27:40
throughout the inquiry, despite a
01:27:42
judge's orders that they not speak.
01:27:46
These included Peter Thomas, Barry Cat,
01:27:48
and another detective.
01:27:54
It took more than a year for the inquiry
01:27:56
to conclude and for the judge to deliver
01:27:58
his findings.
01:28:01
On Wednesday, October 27, 2004, Judge
01:28:05
Tom Davidson found that Roseanne Beckett
01:28:08
might have been falsely convicted on
01:28:10
unreliable evidence provided by Barry
01:28:12
Cat, Peter Thomas, and others.
01:28:16
Judge Davidson believed there was
01:28:18
evidence that Roseanne had been framed
01:28:20
by prosecution witnesses, including that
01:28:23
the pistol in her home was likely
01:28:25
planted by Peter Thomas.
01:28:28
The judge determined that Thomas
01:28:30
pressured witnesses in a way that
01:28:32
encouraged them to give false evidence.
01:28:36
He described Barry Cat as verbose,
01:28:39
rambling, and at times irrelevant to the
01:28:41
point of incomprehensibility.
01:28:43
[Music]
01:28:46
This finding paved the way for Roseanne
01:28:48
to lodge a new appeal. And the following
01:28:51
year, the New South Wales Court of
01:28:52
Criminal Appeal quashed most of the
01:28:54
charges Roseanne had been convicted of.
01:28:58
These included attempting to poison,
01:29:00
possession of an unregistered firearm,
01:29:02
assault, perjury, and solicitation of
01:29:05
murder.
01:29:07
The charges of malicious wounding and
01:29:09
assault, which related to the
01:29:11
rockthrowing incident and the alleged
01:29:13
stabbing at Swan's Crossing, were upheld
01:29:16
due to no new evidence being admitted
01:29:19
for those convictions.
01:29:22
Despite being cleared of almost all of
01:29:24
her convictions, Roseanne wasn't offered
01:29:27
any financial compensation by the New
01:29:29
South Wales government.
01:29:31
Individuals who have been victims of
01:29:33
government wrongdoing can be offered
01:29:35
payment as an acknowledgement of their
01:29:37
pain, suffering, and losses. However,
01:29:41
the crown still insisted Roseanne was
01:29:43
guilty.
01:29:46
In turn, Roseanne sued the New South
01:29:48
Wales government for malicious
01:29:50
prosecution.
01:29:52
Her legal team set out to prove that
01:29:54
Peter Thomas had acted with malice and
01:29:56
had no reasonable cause to charge her
01:29:58
with a crime.
01:30:00
Roseanne had lost a decade of her life
01:30:03
due to her wrongful conviction and she
01:30:05
had no income or retirement savings.
01:30:08
Her children's lives had been
01:30:10
significantly impacted as well and a
01:30:12
personal tragedy only increased the
01:30:15
family suffering.
01:30:17
In 2007, Roseanne's daughter was in a
01:30:20
terrible car accident in Canada which
01:30:22
left her quadriplegic.
01:30:24
Roseanne became her primary carer, which
01:30:27
made receiving compensation even more
01:30:30
important.
01:30:32
Suing the state government was her only
01:30:35
avenue.
01:30:37
The government fought back against
01:30:38
Roseanne and in 2010 even issued her a
01:30:42
bill for $89,000
01:30:44
for Barry Cat's victim's compensation
01:30:46
payout.
01:30:48
It took another decade for the matter to
01:30:51
be resolved, but Roseanne ultimately won
01:30:54
her malicious prosecution case in August
01:30:56
of 2015.
01:31:00
After ruling in Roseanne's favor, the
01:31:02
presiding judge spoke of just how much
01:31:05
Roseanne had lost due to the crown's
01:31:07
wrongful prosecution, stating,
01:31:11
"The enormity of this loss is made still
01:31:13
more staggering by the significant
01:31:15
period of time for which that loss was
01:31:18
suffered."
01:31:20
The drawn out process Roseanne had been
01:31:22
made to endure was made even worse when
01:31:24
it was revealed that New South Wales
01:31:26
police had held doubts about her
01:31:28
conviction as far back as 2000.
01:31:32
They had revisited the case after
01:31:34
receiving media inquiries which led to
01:31:37
senior police officers referring the
01:31:39
matter to the police commissioner due to
01:31:41
their concerns that Roseanne might have
01:31:43
been framed.
01:31:45
Despite this, Roseanne had been held in
01:31:48
prison for another 10 months.
01:31:52
More than a quarter of a century after
01:31:54
Roseanne Beckett was first arrested, the
01:31:56
New South Wales government was ordered
01:31:58
to pay her more than $4 million in
01:32:01
damages and interest, plus legal
01:32:04
expenses.
01:32:08
Peter Thomas and Barry Cat were never
01:32:11
held accountable for their roles in
01:32:12
having Roseanne Beckett imprisoned.
01:32:15
They weren't called by the Crown to
01:32:17
testify during the malicious prosecution
01:32:19
case, which meant Roseanne's team
01:32:22
couldn't cross-examine them either.
01:32:25
On Sunday, August 24, 2014, while
01:32:29
Roseanne's malicious prosecution case
01:32:31
was still before the court, Peter Thomas
01:32:33
died of prostate cancer at the age of
01:32:36
65.
01:32:38
His death coincided with the 25th
01:32:41
anniversary of his raid on Roseanne
01:32:43
Beckett's home.
01:32:46
Barry Cat died later that same year.
01:32:49
He had remained living in Tre and a
01:32:52
number of other people had taken out
01:32:53
AVOs against him over the years.
01:32:58
Roseanne Becka credits her faith in God
01:33:00
with helping her survive prison.
01:33:03
While incarcerated, she formed strong
01:33:06
relationships with religious volunteers
01:33:08
who visited the prison, including a
01:33:10
female chaplain and an administrative
01:33:13
manager who made it their mission to
01:33:14
help Roseanne find justice.
01:33:18
This support and the support Roseanne
01:33:20
received from her family, friends, and
01:33:23
legal team provided counterpoints to the
01:33:26
persecution she'd experienced at the
01:33:28
hands of her former husband and Peter
01:33:30
Thomas.
01:33:33
In 2005, Roseanne published a memoir
01:33:36
about her experiences titled 10 years,
01:33:39
which was named for the time she spent
01:33:41
serving her sentence.
01:33:44
In the book's final chapter, Roseanne
01:33:46
detailed the anger she has lived with
01:33:48
for decades as a result of Peter
01:33:50
Thomas's actions and the failure of the
01:33:52
authorities to stop him or hold him
01:33:55
accountable.
01:33:57
This anger only compounded when Roseanne
01:33:59
saw how others who came forward to speak
01:34:01
in her defense were threatened and
01:34:03
harassed as well.
01:34:06
Following her vindication in court,
01:34:09
Roseanne knew she had to find a way to
01:34:11
move forward.
01:34:13
She wrote,
01:34:15
"This matter has consumed not only my
01:34:17
every moment, but those of my two
01:34:20
beautiful children, my family, and now
01:34:23
my supporters.
01:34:25
It is going to take all my concentration
01:34:27
to let it go to realize that I don't
01:34:30
have to fight anymore. I've got to dust
01:34:33
myself off and pick up my life where I
01:34:36
left it the day I met Barry Cat.
01:34:43
[Music]
01:34:49
[Music]