‘Kill Novy’ plot after sex
Court told Chardon asked lover to hire hitmen
ACCUSED wife killer John Chardon asked his Filipino lover to kill his wife just minutes after they had sex, and later asked him to hire hit-men, buy a gun and source a daterape drug, a court has heard. Filipino mail order bride agent Marshall Aguilor told the final day of Chardon’s committal hearing in Brisbane Magistrates Court yesterday that Chardon asked him to kill wife Novy “very soon after” he finished having sex with Chardon in a hotel room in the Philippines city of Cebu. At the end of the hearing yesterday, Chardon was committed to trial for the murder of his wife and entered a not guilty plea. Mr Aguilor said Chardon told him he wanted Novy dead because he did not want to have to give her half his fortune as part of their divorce. He said that after this request Chardon asked him to find “three hitmen” in the Philippines, and paid Mr Aguilor 30,000 Filipino pesos ($760) for travel expenses to find the killers, who were to be paid $US10,000 each “to do the job for Novy”. “Get them ready and I will let them know when it is going to happen,” Mr Aguilor claims Chardon ordered in a phone call. Mr Aguilor also testified that Chardon sent him 75,000 Filipino pesos ($1895) to buy a gun with a silencer “for protection”. “It was always in my mind that the gun was for his wife,” Mr Aguilor told the court, adding it was easy to buy guns in the city of Cebu. He said he also feared Chardon might pay a hitman to kill him, and said he never took any steps to try to fulfil Chardon’s request to hire killers. Mr Aguilor claimed Chardon later changed his mind about killing Novy in the Philippines after the 34-year-old refused to travel there. “He told me that maybe the best way is to invite Novy to go to Thailand and then the job could be done there,” Mr Aguilor said. Mr Aguilor said Chardon told him the hit could be done while Novy visited Thailand for a tummy tuck operation. Mr Aguilor said Chardon asked him to buy three pills of the drug rohypnol, known as a date-rape drug, in 2012 when Chardon was on a visit to Manila. Chardon’s barrister, John Kimmins, suggested to Mr Aguilor that Chardon mentioned the drug was “highly likely to be used” as “getback ... on the person who raped” Chardon’s daughter Angela in the US. Mr Aguilor said Chardon paid him 100,000 Filipino pesos ($2527) to get hold of the rohypnol pills and bribe authorities, after Mr Aguilor pretended he had been stopped by security officers. “He told me to bribe them to get back the pills,” Mr Aguilor said. Under cross examination by Mr Kimmins, Mr Aguilor denied his motive for giving evidence against Chardon was to claim $250,000 reward money or to emigrate to Australia. Mr Aguilor met Chardon when he helped a young female relative meet Chardon in the Philippines after they found each other on an Asian online dating site. The young woman fled as soon as she met Chardon, leaving Mr Aquilor to become Chardon’s lover. Chardon, who made a fortune selling industrial lubricants, travelled frequently to the Philippines, the court heard. Late yesterday, at the close of the five-day hearing, Chardon formally entered a not guilty plea to murdering wife Novy “on or about February 6, 2013 at Upper Coomera”. Magistrate Penny Hay committed him for trial in the Supreme Court on a date to be fixed.