"They weren't real tears": Damning testimony at Melissa Caddick inquest
<p dir="ltr">One of the first police officers to interview Melissa Caddick’s husband has said he was acting extremely strangely and, when seen crying, wasn’t shedding “real tears”.</p>
<p dir="ltr">Sergeant Trent Riley told the inquest into Caddick’s death of Anthony Koletti’s behaviour after he reported her missing 28 hours after he says she left their <a href="https://www.oversixty.com.au/property/real-estate/melissa-caddick-s-husband-ordered-to-vacate-15-million-mansion" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Dover Heights home</a>.</p>
<p dir="ltr">Louise Coleman, the junior counsel assisting, asked whether Sergeant Riley believed Koletti’s behaviour “was extremely strange and unusual”, to which he said, “Yes”.</p>
<p dir="ltr">“I thought it was strange a husband would ring the police station, report his wife missing two days later and wasn't prepared to come to the police station,” Sergeant Riley said.</p>
<p dir="ltr">“Or didn't really want police to go around and see him (because) he had too much work on that day.”</p>
<p dir="ltr">Since the inquest began on Monday, it has been heard that Koletti impersonated Caddick the day after she went missing and falsely told friends he was with her at home.</p>
<p dir="ltr">Koletti cancelled an appointment with their cleaner via text using his wife’s phone and lied to Caddick’s brother Adam Grimley and friend Scott Little in text messages, telling them he was home with her when he hadn’t actually seen her that day.</p>
<p dir="ltr">Coleman asked Sergeant Riley about the text message sent to the cleaner, which he described as strange.</p>
<p dir="ltr">“I did think it was strange,” he said.</p>
<p dir="ltr">“(He) contacted her closest friends but hadn’t let them know she was missing?” Coleman asked.</p>
<p dir="ltr">“He did. Very strange,” Sergeant Riley said.</p>
<p dir="ltr">The part-time hairdresser and DJ reported that his wife <a href="https://www.oversixty.com.au/finance/legal/wild-theories-over-melissa-caddick-disappearance" target="_blank" rel="noopener">was missing</a> on November 30, just over a day after he said she left the house to go for a walk or a run.</p>
<p dir="ltr">The inquest heard on Wednesday that Sergeant Riley’s suspicions prompted him to visit Koletti at the couple’s home in the eastern suburbs, with his body-cam footage played before the court.</p>
<p dir="ltr">“You can’t be too careful these days,” Koletti can be heard saying while unlocking one of the doors.</p>
<p dir="ltr">In the cellar, Koletti points out that Caddick “hasn’t even taken any grog”.</p>
<p dir="ltr">On the upstairs deck, where the Harbour Bridge could be seen in the background, Sergeant Riley mentioned that it was a good spot for New Year’s Eve.</p>
<p dir="ltr">“I was looking forward to New Year's Eve, but I don't know now. It doesn't mean anything when you don't have the love of your life,” Koletti responds.</p>
<p dir="ltr">“Did you go anywhere last night?” Sergeant Riley asks again.</p>
<p dir="ltr">“Not that I know of,” Mr Koletti says.</p>
<p dir="ltr">Sergeant Riley repeatedly says he doesn’t believe Koletti is telling him the complete truth.</p>
<p dir="ltr">“Like I said before I think there's something you're not telling me,” Sergeant Riley says.</p>
<p dir="ltr">“I told you if something comes up I will tell you ... I've been on this for a long time now,” Koletti responds.</p>
<p dir="ltr">Solicitor Judy Swan, who is representing Koletti, pointed out to the sergeant that her client began to cry at the end of the search and interview.</p>
<p dir="ltr">“They weren't real tears in my opinion ... I'm very confident they weren't real tears,” Sergeant Riley said.</p>
<p dir="ltr">He noted that Koletti gave him two different versions of the last time he saw Caddick, first telling police that he wasn’t worried about his wife and hadn’t left home at all and later saying he had spent the day searching above the ocean near The Gap.</p>
<p dir="ltr">“(He says) he didn't think she was missing but he was checking the cliffs around Rodney Reserve all day,” Coleman said.</p>
<p dir="ltr">“Extremely strange,” Sergeant Riley responded.</p>
<p dir="ltr">The officer, who was unaware that the couple’s home had been raided by the Australian Federal Police and Australian Securities and Investments Commission on November 11, added that he was bewildered by Koletti’s ability to describe the clothes his wife was wearing when she left the house, despite not seeing her leave.</p>
<p dir="ltr">The inquest before Deputy State Coroner Elizabeth Ryan continues.</p>
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<p dir="ltr"><em>Image: Getty Images</em></p>
