Black Widow, The: How One Woman Got Justice for Her Murdered Brother

by Lee-Anne, Cartier,

  At 2.11 p.m. I replied to Helen:

  Just got back from Bris and recharged phone. Shit so how do you get that done. What’s happening with work

  It took till 3.03 p.m. for Helen to reply:

  Go 2 clinic 4 3 hours every day until I find somewhere else 2 live then get set up at home. Work not an option at mo. Got 2 move in 5 weeks. Can u let Andrew know I can’t give him pool table at mo. Have 2 sell most phils stuff 2 pay debts. Will leave table 2 last

  Then 20 minutes later:

  Adam said u rang him cause u couldn’t get me. He knows nothing and I want it 2 stay that way. Once this place has gone I will be disappearing

  I replied immediately:

  the other day u said u weren’t allowed to sell anything of phils due to Karen’s claim so what’s the truth

  Her lies were pushing me to breaking point. Finally, I snapped, and told her I knew she’d killed Phil. We exchanged heated texts over the next few minutes, where she accused me of dishonesty. I lashed out, and finished by saying

  Hey I’ve never killed anyone. Did Barry catch u out on your lies is that why he ditched u again feel so sorry for your children and your mother no wonder they don’t have anything to do with you. Phil is finally free of u

  I RANG ANDREW IN TEARS, angry and upset at myself for blowing my cover. Andrew was great, acknowledging how well I’d done keeping my cool up till now. He was right; I felt I had taken on a lot by continuing in the role of a supportive sister-in-law after I knew the truth.

  I had been on the phone to Karen during my text spat with Helen. We were both totally over her lies. Karen had a friend who had been on dialysis, having the treatment several times a week. We both concluded that for anyone to require dialysis every day they sure as hell wouldn’t have been sent home after five days in hospital to wait till the following week to start this treatment, as they would most likely die in the interim.

  I was just so sick of the ever-changing stories and lies surrounding Phil’s assets and liabilities and things like the insurance policy. Why, if he was behind on payments, would they not pay out on the life insurance but would pay out on serious illness? And what serious illness? Did Helen think she was dealing with two-year-olds who had no life experience or ability to use logic?

  Within minutes of my last text Helen had emailed Andrew and my parents, with the subject line ‘End of Contact’. It read:

  I have just received some extremely nasty text messages from Leeanne and have decided that I really had no wish to have any further contact with the family. I know you have lost a son and brother — I have lost everything.

  Leeanne is accusing me of killing Phil and lying about the whole situation here. I really can’t take much more.

  I believe I have gone out of my way to accommodate everyone else’s wishes and seeming to have had it all thrown back on my face with more and more demands. I will send the cards over, as Lance and Leeanne both lied to me about when Lance was coming over.

  After this, I really have no wish to hear from anyone over there and if Leeanne continues in this vein then I will be taking legal action! I have had enough of her two-faced poisonous threats and accusations.

  I am sorry it has come to this, but once again Leeanne seems intent on destroying the family unit.

  Helen

  PS. This is the last text I received from Leeanne: ‘Hey I never killed anyone, did Barry catch u out on your lies, is that why he ditched u again. Feel so sorry for your children and your mother no wonder they don’t have anything to do with u. Phil is finally free of you. Lucky bugger.’

  I found this really charming, shows what a kind caring person she really is.

  Gotta love how she added on ‘Lucky bugger’ — it sounded so dorky.

  Andrew sent a strategic reply to try to distance himself from me in Helen’s eyes.

  Hi Helen,

  Well I don’t know what that’s all about but will be talking to Mum and Dad to find out what’s going on, I don’t have a lot to do with Lee-anne.

  Now I was going to ring but didn’t know if you would take my call.

  I wanted to discuss the pool table again with you, as I would not as I said earlier want it to fall into her [Karen’s] hands and I wouldn’t think you would either and I wouldn’t have even discussed the table had it not been for the offer you made to me when I was last over which was ‘why don’t you pack it up and send it to Aust.’ Now I know you mentioned that she has made a claim on Phil’s estate/belongings and I hope she gets nothing but should she chase the table then as I said earlier, tell her I’ve got it and she can contact me if she thinks she’s got a hope in hell getting it off me.

  I had hoped that we could stay in contact and even thought that you might have headed this way but I guess things have gone a little crazy by what’s been said.

  I hope you will reconsider this and feel free if you would still wish to have email contact with me.

  Take care.

  Andrew

  I was so proud of Andrew for taking up my place in the game. By dissing Karen in his email he would have scored lots of points with Helen. Thankfully, he got a reply four days later.

  Hi Andrew

  I’m really sorry things have gone this way, but I am on the verge of a complete breakdown. I’ve been extremely unwell over the last 10 days and there is no way I can continue with my life in this vein.

  Lee-Anne has for some reason got into her head that I killed Phil and have been lying about the whole situation over here. I have been totally upfront with everyone and am finding it hard to deal with these accusations on top of everything.

  As you may or may not be aware, when Phil moved in here, he had nothing but his personal belongings, model cars and pool table to his name, he did not own his truck, van or car. My dad and I built this house just on 15 years ago, I increased the mortgage to pay what I believed to be all Phil’s debt and to fight for custody of Ben. After getting this all arranged I found out that he still owed the IRD just on $50k and your parents in the vicinity of $15k. As I’ve said, I have no choice but to clear these debts, the mortgage and the HP on the wee car. Meaning that I will walk away with around $10k. So I think I have a right to be somewhat bitter and stressed.

  I have received two more texts from Lee-Anne — one on Friday at 9:35 AM ‘Why have you never given the police the suicide letter are you worried they will click u wrote it’. The police do have this letter and your parents were here when I found it, in fact your dad brought me a rather strong rum as I was so upset.

  The second today at 11:57 AM — ‘I had a big chat with Phil and know exactly what went down even the truth about the loans with your signature on them and that u sent the text yourself you are so in need of a shrink they’ll get u one in jail.’

  I assume she is referring to the loan applications he tried to file against the house just before he committed suicide but were denied because they didn’t have my signature. I’m not sure when she is supposed to have spoken to Phil as we spent only a couple of very uncomfortable hours with her and the kids when we were over there.

  I’ve spoken to my lawyer about the pool table and he says I’m not to give anything away under any circumstances as I will be required to reimburse the estate for any missing items and it will be valued as per purchasing new. There is already a list with the High Court from Karen and Ben as to what he believes to be here — it is quite extensive and imaginative!

  Where to from here — I really don’t know. As for her comment about Barry ditching me — Barry is my ex partner (your parents met him whilst here) who has been a tower of strength to the boys and I through all this and contrary to what she believes, I am receiving significant support from them both, so once again I don’t know where she is coming from but I will put this in my lawyer’s hands if it continues.

  Helen

  SINCE DAY ZERO, 9 JUNE, everything Helen had said, emailed and texted to anyone I could get a hold of had been compared and the inconsistencies exposed. She obvio
usly didn’t know the rule of being a successful liar is to keep it simple and keep the same lie, not change it with every person she spoke to.

  Zak, Ben and Phil.

  Nine

  A Visit to the Police

  In August I found myself going back to New Zealand again. My paternal birth grandmother Edna Bunting had been unwell, and she passed away on 21 August in Balclutha. With her funeral set for the Tuesday, I booked the late flight on the Sunday night.

  Lance picked me up from the airport just after midnight. I asked them to take me past Helen’s house on the way to Karen’s, where I was staying. I was curious to see whether her house was still on the market, as she had told me she had to move in five weeks in one of her texts on the day I lost it with her.

  Lance was driving his uncle’s old four-wheel-drive. I looked between the driver’s and passenger’s seats and spotted a balaclava and a machete. Lance casually suggested we shoot up Helen’s house

  ‘Look in the back seat,’ he said.

  It was dark but I could see a black gun lying there. I freaked out and started going off at him, but he laughed back at me and said, ‘You idiot, it’s just a paintball gun.’ I shook my head; would this boy ever stop trying to shock me?

  As we passed Helen’s house I could see the ‘for sale’ sign was still there, but there was no sold sticker on it.

  Lance told me to shoot up the driveway. I laughed that I’d probably just break the neighbour’s window, so we drove around the corner and swapped seats. I continued driving around the block until we were back out the front of Helen’s and idled at the end of the drive as Lance leant out the passenger window and let rip with the paintball gun.

  We arrived at Karen’s on a high, hysterical about our little drive-by.

  WHILE I WAS IN CHRISTCHURCH, I really wanted to talk to Phil’s neighbour, Ray, who had also worked with Phil. He had told me that another neighbour had seen Helen hanging out the washing early on the morning that Phil had been found dead.

  I called Ray and arranged to meet him early afternoon at the Halswell Tavern. Lance came with me and we took Karen’s car in case the four-wheel-drive was identified from our little drive-by the night before.

  We sat and talked with Ray for a while. I showed him all the emails we had received from Helen and explained the conflicting stories.

  Ray told us that his wife Karen and Phil usually left for work at the same time each morning, one following the other down the road. Before Karen left for work each day before 4.30 a.m., she rolled up the covers on the bird aviary against the fence that divided their property from Helen and Phil’s.

  Every other day at that hour she had only ever seen the kitchen light on at the left-hand end of the house. That morning at 4.20 a.m. she could see lights on in the kitchen, the dining room, the lounge and the master bedroom.

  After work that day they had both gone over to see Helen to pass on their condolences. When Helen told them she had slept on the couch and assumed Phil had gone to work, then went and checked on him and found him dead after 6.30 a.m. Karen cut in and said, ‘But all the lights in the house were on at 4.20 when I was opening up the aviary.’ Helen had a small emotional breakdown then quickly changed the subject.

  Wow, this was big. Ray also confirmed the police hadn’t spoken to Karen but said she would happily talk to them if they came to her. I assured him I would speak to the police and make sure they were in touch. Helen had also showed them the suicide note and he too had thought the signature wasn’t Phil’s. Helen had left the note with him and he had taken it into work to compare with Phil’s handwriting and his log books, which confirmed his suspicions. Ray also told us that a few weeks earlier Helen had spoken to them over the fence and dangled her hand in front of them, showing off an engagement ring and announcing she and Barry were engaged.

  Lance and I headed to Helen’s and sat in the car out of view of the driveway. Lance insisted he go in to talk to her about the table, to wind her up, but that I should stay in the car, in case I couldn’t keep my cool with her. He was probably right.

  Lance walked up the long drive and found Helen washing the car. He smugly laughed to himself, hoping it had been covered in paint. He told her he’d come to get the pool table and she started going off and asked him to leave.

  ‘Nice engagement ring,’ he commented.

  ‘It’s a friendship ring,’ she retorted.

  ‘Yeah, right.’

  She yelled at him to get off her property, but as he started to walk down the drive, Lance added, ‘See you at the inquest.’

  ‘What inquest?’ she called after him. ‘What inquest?’

  THE NEXT MORNING LANCE PICKED me up at about 4 a.m. and we headed to Balclutha to farewell my birth grandmother. My aunt offered us beds there for the night but we declined and headed back. I was booked on an early flight on Thursday, so only had one more day to go and see the police.

  It was early evening when we arrived back in Christchurch. Karen and I further discussed my conversation with Ray and then, through general chat about Helen, I decided to try and track down her first husband, so I just rang through all the Kearnses in the phone book!

  On my third or fourth call I found him. We chatted about Helen and I told him she had said to me that he had assaulted her and pushed her down the stairs, causing her to lose a baby girl she was pregnant with. I was pretty sure this would have been a lie but I needed him to confirm my thoughts.

  He stated they’d never lived in a house with stairs, and she had only been pregnant twice, with the boys. When they had split up she had obtained an order stopping him coming on their property, with bogus physical abuse claims. He said he had fought to have contact with the boys but she had always made up lies when he did have them and prevented access at other times, so in the end it was too much and he gave up.

  He suggested I call Helen’s mother Anne, and gave me her details. It was getting late so I left calling Anne till the next day.

  Several people had told me there was no love lost between Helen and her mother. When I called her, she was more than happy to talk.

  Anne explained she had gone to the police with other family members to raise concerns over Helen’s involvement in Phil’s death a few days after the funeral. She explained that Helen had messaged her and told her she was not welcome at the funeral. We exchanged email addresses and agreed to keep in touch.

  After my successful call to Anne I took the plunge and called Lyn, the office manager where Helen had worked. This was an awkward situation, as I had called her previously to get Helen’s new number but had chickened out on engaging in further conversation.

  I don’t remember exactly how the conversation started but in no time at all Lyn was explaining lots of things that had gone on with Helen at work. Helen had spoken to several of the guys there about rat poison and killing someone, plus she told everyone at work lots of different stories around Phil’s death.

  As we were about to finish our conversation Lyn asked how my daughter was. I was confused. I said the girls were fine. At that point Lyn explained that Helen had emailed her saying that she needed to resign from work, because on top of losing Phil, one of my daughters had had a horrible accident, and she wasn’t coping. When she came into work she told them that my daughter had been in a hit-and-run and was in hospital with 36 broken bones in an induced coma.

  I was stunned speechless. Lyn continued, saying that Helen had said the other twin was at her sister’s bedside, saying she wished it was her. I was about to explode. How dare this woman drag my daughters into her lies?

  OVER THE FOLLOWING MONTHS I spoke with Lyn several more times. She told me that since Helen had left, she had found proof that Helen had been stealing money from the company and estimated it to be close to $30,000. She also forwarded to me the email Helen had sent her.

  This is the email sent and my response. I can assure you that we did not make her redundant, she tendered her resignation and I asked her to think about it and let me kno
w her decision. The next day she advised me she would finish on Friday. This was a shock as I did think she would give more notice, however we accepted it and farewelled her on the Friday with a morning tea and a gift.

  Helen’s original email dated 3 July was sent with the subject line ‘Leave’. It read

  Hi Lyn

  I ended up at the Dr’s again yesterday. Have had a complete meltdown — one of Lee-Anne’s girls has had a serious accident in Brisbane, it is touch and go as to whether she is going to make it.

  Basically this has just tipped me over the edge and my Dr is now very concerned about my state of mind. He has given me a medical cert for up to 4 weeks off, I don’t think I need that long but will give you a call on Monday after I have been to the counsellor.

  I know this is not a great position to put you in, but if you would rather, I am willing to tender my resignation as this may be the best outcome for —————.

  Regards

  Helen

  Lyn had also confirmed in our conversations that Helen’s hours were never reduced.

  So when it came to Helen’s job we had the following timeline:

  25 May: Helen texted Barry:

  just been told im having my hours cut at the end of next month!

  One month later, on 25 June, she emails Dad:

  … on top of all this, I am now looking for a new job as I am having my hours reduced at the end of next month because of the downturn in business. There is no way I will be able to cope on a part-time wage.

  On 7 July, Helen emailed both Dad and me:

  I went to my doctors last week as had not been coping too well, he has given me a couple of weeks stress leave, our office manager has today emailed me a redundancy notice, effective immediately. I will now be going to Work and Income to see what help they can give me until I find another job.