AUSTRALIA COMPUTERS STOLEN Multiplex heir Tim Roberts former lover Laurel Cetinic-Dorol on trial

'More ingredients than a Hollywood soap opera'

• Joseph Sapienza
• March 23, 2009 - 5:50PM

A woman once involved in a de facto relationship with one of the sons of the billionaire founder of Multiplex, has denied breaking into his home and stealing personal possessions including images of him with strippers at a bucks party, a Perth court heard today.

According to her lawyer, an heir to the Multiplex fortune, Tim Roberts, "was cheating with more than two women" and that the accused only sent the photos to two of his female friends "because these women had a right to know the truth" about the complainant.

She claimed she was mailed the pictures of the bucks party along with a list of the names and numbers of other women from a person she did not know.

Laurel Cetinic-Dorol, 35, is on trial in the Perth District Court on charges of burglary - which includes stealing Mr Roberts' mobile phone, two computers and $20,000 cash from his Cottesloe home - as well as two counts of perverting the course of justice.

She has pleaded not guilty to all three charges.

Mr Roberts told the court that he officially ended his relationship with the accused in December 2005 after having first met in mid-1999 while he was a director of Multiplex.

During his opening remarks, prosecutor Tony Derrick said the accused felt badly treated by Mr Roberts, before he claims she broke into his home sometime in the first half of July 2007 and stole some of his possessions.

This included a hard drive from one of his two home computers - which had images of him at a friend's bucks party on the Abrolhos Islands in January 2007.

The court also heard that when confronted, Cetinic-Dorol created false alibis by faking entries in an appointment book at a South Perth dental clinic, where she worked. This relates to the two counts of perverting the course of justice.

The prosecution stated Cetinic-Dorol then started messaging two of Mr Roberts' female friends - Brittany Oddy and Nicole Patterson - using one of Mr Roberts'stolen mobile phones.

The complainant referred to his relationships with Ms Oddy and Ms Patterson as "non-committed girlfriend relationships".

Mr Roberts, 38, was on holiday in Italy at the time and Mr Derrick said this led them to believe he had sent them the messages - some of which were abusive.

The accused even made telephone calls from her work number and her home phone to the women and even Mr Roberts is said to have later received an abusive message from his own spare phone.

She later mailed Ms Oddy and Ms Patterson the pictures from the bucks party.

Mr Derrick said Mr Roberts was of the impression that someone must have had access to his information so he contacted his housekeeper to check on a few things.

She discovered two computers were missing along with his spare phone, court documents and a leather purse with housekeeping money.

He believed the accused had stolen his property and when he asked for the property to be returned, she denied having ever stolen anything.

Upon his return on July 18, Mr Roberts discovered several watches and in excess of $20,000 had been taken from his safe.

Mr Derrick said only two people knew the safe's combination - Mr Roberts and Cetinic-Dorol.

He said two witnesses who used to work with the accused at the dental clinic would be called and that they would testify that the accused did not take the break-up with Mr Roberts very well and that she had committed the burglary at his Grant Street home.

However, Cetinic-Dorol's lawyer Tom Hall told the court that the trial was a "bizarre case" and had "more ingredients than a Hollywood soap opera".

He said the alleged burglary took place during the middle of court proceedings in the Family Court between Mr Roberts and the accused, which have since stalled.

Mr Hall told the jury the complainant was "seeing multiple women at the same time and was not honest about it".

"After being caught out with the compromising poses with strippers at a bucks party, he suspected foul play," he said.

At the time of the burglary, the defence counsel said his client received the photos in the mail and she did not know where they came from.

Just because his client sent the photos to the other two women, it did not constitute burglary he said.

There were no witnesses, no fingerprints and none of the missing property was recovered.

He added testimony would be given by two workers she had sacked from her dentist clinic. He denied the charges that she attempted to pervert the course of justice by entering fake appointments into the appointment book.

"This is a complicated case, and I ask that you assess the evidence very carefully," he said.

During questioning, Mr Roberts told the court he gradually noticed that more items were missing from his home when he returned to Australia.

While away, he confirmed he had received an abusive message from his spare phone.

He said he never printed hard copies of the bucks party images or a particular email dated from September 2005 - which made it evident to him that someone gained access to his computers.

He added these documents were only available from his personal and work computers at his house.

During cross-examination, Mr Roberts told Mr Hall that at least one of his workers had access to his house but Ms Patterson and Ms Oddy did not.

When asked if his client had ever accessed the digital safe, Mr Roberts replied: "She would have accessed the safe on many, many occasions."

The trial continues.