THE man who murdered his partner of 16 years – interior designer Stuart Rattle – was a pathological liar known as “the Talented Mr Ripley”, a court has heard.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
Chief Crown Prosecutor Gavin Silbert, SC, told the Supreme Court on Monday that Michael O’Neill strangled Mr Rattle as an “act of financial self preservation”.
Mr Silbert said O’Neill was trying to cover up for his incompetence, which had been threatening to bankrupt the interior designer’s business.
He said O’Neill, 48, had told “a cock and bull story” to police for more than five hours after his arrest before confessing to having killed Mr Rattle on December 4
last year at the couple’s South Yarra apartment and setting fire to the property four days later to try to cover up the murder.
O’Neill admitted having taken a saucepan from the kitchen about 6am and striking Mr Rattle, 53, over the head before wrapping a nylon dog lead around his neck.
Mr Rattle begged for his life as he was being strangled.
O’Neill has pleaded guilty to one count of murder and one count of arson.
Mr Rattle’s mother, Jill, in an emotional victim impact statement read to the court during the pre-sentence hearing, said O’Neill called her after the fire to claim Stuart had been trapped upstairs and could not escape.
Mrs Rattle said she believed O’Neill’s story and kissed and hugged him to try to comfort him. She was later shocked to have been betrayed by the man her son had loved so much.
Defence barrister Ruth Shann told the court O’Neill was a sad, inadequate, deeply dysfunctional man who had been living a lie since he was five years old.
Ms Shann said O’Neill, who came from Ireland before emigrating to Australia when he was four, had never come to terms with his sexuality.
O’Neill lived in two worlds – an internal solitary and frightening world and the outside world where he gave the impression everything was fine.
Ms Shann said O’Neill was targeted when growing up because he was effeminate, neat and did not play sport. O’Neill developed a mechanism where he told lies to avoid disappointing people. He had never told his family he was gay.
“For Michael, being gay has been a shameful mistake,” Ms Shann said.
The defence barrister said that when they met, Mr Rattle was everything O’Neill wasn’t – strong, confident, capable, successful, and a creative genius whose career was on the rise. O’Neill was a waiter at the time.
“Michael was swept into Stuart’s world,” Ms Shann told Justice Elizabeth Hollingworth.
Ms Shann said the couple had been spending $600,000 to $700,000 a year on a decadent lifestyle.
The pre-sentence hearing continues.
