Manslaughter plea in Rockefeller killing

Herman Rockefeller. Photo by TVNZ.
Herman Rockefeller. Photo by TVNZ.
Two people have pleaded guilty to the manslaughter of Melbourne multimillionaire Herman Rockefeller when he visited them for sex after making contact through an ad in a swingers magazine.

Documents tendered to the Melbourne Magistrates Court show Mr Rockefeller was killed in a fight after he tried to leave the couple's house after an arranged meeting to have sex.

He was fatally bashed and later dismembered in a garage.

Prosecutors withdrew a murder charge against Mario Schembri, of Wallan, and Bernadette Denny, of Hadfield, in Melbourne Magistrates Court.

The couple pleaded guilty to one count of manslaughter by an unlawful and dangerous act.

Schembri told police Mr Rockefeller came to their house wanting to have sex but did not bring his wife.

"All he said was 'Can I have a quickie?' blah, blah, blah, so we sat down and had a drink. We had a talk and I said to him: `Where's the wife?'" Schembri said.

"(Mr Rockefeller said) `She's sick, she's this, she's that', I said: `Come on.' I said: `You've used my wife and now you want ... A bit selfish.

"So I was hurt, Bernie was hurt and he was, `La, la, la, I've got the better of you guys. **** you, Jack, I'm right.' That's how I felt."

Schembri said later when Mr Rockefeller tried to leave he stopped him.

Police documents revealed they then fought.

"I don't know what I was thinking. I went stupid. I went blank," Schembri said. "In the end it was just ridiculous ... he's gone.

"There's no way I can say 100 Hail Marys and it'll go away. You know, I mean that's just ridiculous even saying that."

Schembri later dismembered Mr Rockefeller's clothed body in his garage.

Crown prosecutor Chris Beale, SC, said the crown accepted their plea and had withdrawn a charge of murder against each of the accused.

Neither of them applied for bail.

Magistrate Sarah Dawes ordered that they appear at a directions hearing at the Victorian Supreme Court on July 27.

They were remanded in custody.

The burnt remains of the 52-year-old property investor were found in a junk-strewn suburban backyard in Melbourne's northwest, eight days after he was reported missing on January 21.

Mr Rockefeller had close links to New Zealand. He was chief financial officer of Brierley Investments in New Zealand for eight years from 1992 to 2000, after meeting his wife Victoria here in the 1980s.

He left Brierley when the company re-located to Singapore and was the buyer in 2003 of a six-level block in Petone for $3.5 million.

He was also a director of biotech company Genesis Research, and . had a holiday house in the Otago town of Karitane, 40km north of Dunedin, formerly occupied by Plunket founder Sir Truby King.

He was a friend of Prime Minister John Key.

 

 

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