Dispute over Lambo
No way car was stolen, say family
THE family of a dead inventor has taken a swipe at his former female companion, saying she has no rights to a $240,000 Lamborghini she claims is hers.
Rick Mayne, a collector of vintage cars and inventor of the Split Cycle engine, passed away in 2011.
In the years before his death, Mr Mayne became close with Helensvale accountant Nelli Gennad’evna Erchova, who claims she was gifted the black 1991 Lamborghini Diablo in 2008.
She reported the car stolen in 2014 after she saw it on TV when the Pimpama home of cannabis kingpin Justin Corke was raided by police.
The car was seized by the state of Queensland under proceeds of crime laws after it was found during the raid.
Ms Erchova has taken her case to the Supreme Court, claiming the car is hers.
However, Mr Mayne’s granddaughter, Jaimiee Munro, said it would have been “impossible” for the Lamborghini to have been stolen as it was hoisted in the Southport workshop her grandfather owned and lived in, with a car below it and another two behind it.
“Why would she wait four years after it was stolen to report it?” she said.
“Anyway, there is no way that car could have been stolen from his workshop.
“My grandad’s workshop was like Fort Knox – because he lived there – he had a lot to protect. Everything he owned was in there.”
Ms Erchova told the Supreme Court she and Mr Mayne were in a defacto relationship and that he had gifted her the Lamborghini in 2008 for her 40th birthday.
Ms Munro rejected the claim, saying the pair had a regimented arrangement that involved a visit every Tuesday.
Ms Erchova would also carry out tasks such as grocery shopping for the elderly man who never left his workshop.
When Mr Mayne died in 2011 after a second stroke, Ms Munro alleges Ms Erchova emptied his workshop and changed the locks.
“My mum never got her inheritance. We don’t know where any of my grandad’s stuff is,” Ms Munro said. “No family photos, no personal belongings. The locks were changed on the workshop.
“She told my family she’d put it all in a container but then she disappeared.”
Last Tuesday Gold Coast man Terrence Thornbury, who is in jail for drug trafficking, gave evidence that Mr Mayne sold the car to him in 2010 when he was running the used-car business Smick Muscle N Performance.
He told the court he sold the car to another drug kingpin Corke, who owned it until 2014 when he was raided.
The Bulletin could not get in contact with Ms Erchova.