Socialite bequeaths “30 pieces of silver” to daughters as “blood money”

MELBOURNE - A former mayor is said to have bequeathed each of her daughters with “30 pieces of silver of the lowest denomination of currency” or 30 five cent pieces, claiming it was “blood money due to Judas”.

Valmai Roche, who died last year, aged 81, left 1.50 dollars from her 3.5 million dollars estate to each of her daughters, as she believed that they had conspired over the death of her mother, reports News.com.au.

According to the Advertiser, two of Roche’s daughters say their mother was “delusional” and they are challenging her will in the South Australian Supreme Court.

Roche left the same amount to her ex-husband, John Roche, a former property developer who was Adelaide City Council Lord Mayor from 1975-77.

Before her death, Roche’s mother, Dorothy Maud Haber, was being cared for in a nursing home. The documents do not say how or when she died.

The daughters, Deborah Hamilton, Fiona Roche and Shauna Roche, were also left equal shares in their mother’s jewellery, on condition they read and correctly answered questions related to her personal diaries from January, 1974, until the date of her will, which was signed in October 1981.

The will left the remainder of her estate to the Knights of the Southern Cross - a Catholic charity for men.

Roche also “specifically excludes” her children and former husband “from any further benefits” because her daughters “have been adequately provided for . . . and because of their estrangement” during her later years.

She made only one addition to her will. In 1987, she left a French Empire style desk to daughter Fiona.

Documents before the court do not provide a formal valuation of Roche’s estate, but it is estimated at 3.5 million dollars.

Hamilton, who alleges her mother held “fixed, false and incorrigible views”, also said her mother’s “delusions” rendered her incapable of “making a reasonable and proper disposition of her estate”, making her will invalid.

The matter returns to court next month. (ANI)