Forsenic Investigators - Ch 7
Mart
girlfriend committed suicide?
The following is an extract from the judgement which details the facts of
the case. Interesting to note some of the details they left out, possibly
to keep its MA rating:
3. Gina Agostinelli was previously married in 1980 to a man called
Tonellato.
There were two children of that marriage, Mark, who was born in 1983 and
Shane, who was born in 1984. Tonellato died in September 1986. In June
1989,
Agostinelli married the deceased. In 1993, the family moved to Millicent to
run a caravan park. It was here that they met the Millers and later, Lewis.
There were problems in the marriage, however, and their relationship
deteriorated, particularly towards the latter part of November 1993 when,
according to Agostinelli the deceased was inter alia making threats to her
children. Lewis became friendly with Agostinelli in about January 1994, and
their friendship developed as time progressed. From January 1994,
Agostinelli
started talking about disposing of her husband and Lewis became involved in
those discussions. The Millers also became involved in discussions as to
methods of getting rid of the deceased. As a result of these discussions,
it
would appear that on three separate occasions leading up to 18 May 1994, the
deceased was drugged: (a) by drugs from Melbourne obtained by Adrian Miller;
(b) with prothiaden provided by Helen Miller; and (c) "horse medicine"
obtained by Lewis. The learned sentencing judge indicated in the course of
his sentencing remarks, however, that he was prepared to sentence on the
basis
that these three druggings were intended only to calm the deceased and for
no
other purpose.
4. There were, however, a number of other plans to kill the deceased.
Lewis
took the deceased to a marijuana plantation, apparently to kill him, but
nothing occurred. Lewis later told the Millers that the deceased was
suspicious of the four of them and that the deceased thought his wife was
trying to kill him. Subsequently, Agostinelli, through Lewis, paid a third
party called "Bluey" to kill the deceased. The deceased was lured to a
house
so that this plan could be carried out, but nothing came of this. The judge
made no comment as to whether the "Bluey" incident was a real situation or a
figment of Lewis' imagination, but found that Agostinelli believed the
arrangement would lead to the death of her husband. In addition, Lewis
suggested taking the deceased to the coast in order to push him off a cliff.
Lewis did in fact drive the deceased to a beach, where he gave him a
beating.
5. According to Adrian Miller, during the period these discussions were
taking place, Agostinelli said that she did not want a divorce from the
deceased because she "didn't want half what they had, she wanted the lot".
In
February 1994, the deceased left the caravan park and came to Adelaide for
four days. During this period, he made no contact with Agostinelli. This
trip
occurred immediately after Lewis had taken the deceased to the beach. When
in
Adelaide the deceased appeared nervous and agitated and when he returned to
the caravan park, the arguments were more frequent. Helen Miller described
one occasion, and Adrian Miller, two occasions, on which the deceased hit
Mark.
6. On 18 May, Agostinelli spoke to Adrian Miller by telephone and told him
everything was fixed for Angelo. She said that she was waiting for Lewis to
bring the horse medicine which she was going to put in the deceased's food.
At about 7 to 7.30 pm, Lewis told Helen Miller that the deceased was drugged
in the back of the shop and he would later take him out to the bush. The
events thereafter, however, are somewhat confused and neither appellant has
offered any real explanation as to what actually occurred. In the course of
submissions before the judge, counsel for Lewis told his Honour that the
deceased had tried to get up but had fallen over and hit his head, that his
right eye was puffy and swollen and that Agostinelli and Lewis had then set
off to the Millicent Hospital, with the deceased in the vehicle, in order to
obtain some treatment for him. This description of events appears to have
been met by the judge with a considerable degree of scepticism.
7. Agostinelli acknowledged that she had urged Lewis to kill her husband
but
maintained that as far as she was aware only one stab wound was inflicted.
The examination of the body disclosed, however, that the right side of the
deceased's head had been smashed in with a blunt object, that at least three
stab wounds, and probably more, had been inflicted to the body, one of which
penetrated the heart. The body was dragged into the bush off a dirt track
in
the Canunda National Park and was then covered with branches. After the
killing, the appellants spread the story that the deceased had disappeared
and
gave details of that. The vehicle in which the deceased had been placed was
cleaned by Adrian Miller and Lewis. The deceased was reported missing about
one week after the killing and Agostinelli made a plea on SES8 television
for
information as to the whereabouts of her husband. The appellants were
subsequently arrested and charged with murder on 22 June 1994.
[ source: austlii.edu.au ]