Alleged wife killer's calls caught on tape

Yahoo

6 days ago

A man accused of murdering his wife and trying to cover it up with a fake break-in allegedly discussed her death with undercover operatives using listening devices.
In March 1998, Aaron Govendir told police an unknown man broke into his Dover Heights home posing as a police officer and knocked him unconscious before bludgeoning his wife Denise to death.
But the story and a subsequent apparent car theft were lies concocted to cover up his role in his wife's violent death, police allege.
Govendir, now 82, was arrested and charged with his wife's murder in August after a lengthy investigation spanning 27 years.
The case against him will rely on material gleaned from a "wealth of telephone intercepts", a crown prosecutor told Sydney's John Maddison Tower Local Court on Tuesday.
He said Govendir had provided eight versions of the night in question, but the alleged murderer's lawyer clarified that was the number of interviews rather than differing accounts.
The conversations included discussing his wife's death with undercover operatives who were furnished with listening devices, the court was told.
The records formed part of a voluminous brief of evidence dating back to the initial police investigation in 1998, which the prosecutor cited as a reason for the delay in filing a crucial document.
The case will also rely on information provided to an inquest held between 2005 and 2008, which declared Ms Govendir died from blunt-force head injuries that were intentionally inflicted.
The prosecutor applied for an extension of time to file the charge certificate, but Govendir's lawyer argued the charges should be thrown out of court instead.
Deputy Chief Magistrate Theo Tsavdaridis said the gravity of the allegations coupled with the lengthy and involved nature of the investigation meant there is a possibility for a miscarriage of justice if the case is not handled carefully.
He granted the extension of time and noted the circumstantial case had "many vectors to it".
Govendir spent a single night behind bars before being granted bail with strict conditions, including that he refrain from contacting any prosecution witnesses.
He will ask for that bail condition to be varied to allow him to talk to two family members when he returns to court in August.
His arrest came after the NSW government in 2023 announced a $1 million reward for fresh information that could lead to the arrest and conviction of Ms Govendir's killer.
1800 RESPECT (1800 737 732)
Lifeline 13 11 14
Men's Referral Service 1300 766 491