‘He promised I’d be OK’
A WILL dispute has erupted over the estate of a Gold Coast mechanic whose ex-wife infamously hired a hit man to kill him.
Malcolm Stewart, 66, died in January of Covid-19 complications after surviving an assassination plot by his ex, former Virgin Australia flight attendant Theresa Dalton, for which she was jailed.
Mr Stewart left his estate – including guns, a Harley Davidson and motorcycle helmet signed by Mick Doohan – to his daughter, two sisters, another ex-partner and two mates.
But his widow, Shirley Mathieson, is challenging the will in the District Court, claiming he had promised to change it to ensure she was “OK”.
In her claim filed this month, the 64-year-old pensioner says her health and finances are “precarious” and she can’t meet her household expenses since Mr Stewart’s death.
She has asked the court to make “proper provision” for her from his estate, which includes a block of land at Leyburn where she and Mr Stewart planned to build their “forever home”.
In her claim, Ms Mathieson has also alleged one of his sisters took some of Mr Stewart’s possessions including the Doohan-signed helmet and clothing two days after his funeral, leaving her “upset and crying” and feeling “intimidated and bullied”.
Ms Mathieson says she and Mr Stewart lived in a de facto relationship at Pimpama after meeting online in 2018.
“I did all the housework, cooking and cleaning and cared for Malcolm,” she states in her claim.
She says her partner had health problems, including diabetes, and she did an aged care course to help care for him, and nursed him through a kidney transplant.
Ms Mathieson says Mr Stewart fell “very ill with Covid-19” just before Christmas and she spent “as much time as possible” by his side in Gold Coast University Hospital.
She states that he contacted his sister Margot Shore “numerous times” but she “never visited him” in hospital, and he died on January 24.
A copy of Mr Stewart’s will, filed as part of the court action, reveals he appointed Ms Shore and his friend, William Fisher, executors of his estate.
In the will, he left Mr Fisher and his ex-partner Vicki Hazelwood $100,000 each, his daughter Holly a Holden Apollo car and queen bed and his friend Bernard Cullen his guns and
two gun safes. He directed the balance of his estate be split between Ms Shore and another sister, Julie Smith.
But Ms Mathieson claims that after they bought the Leyburn land last year, Mr Stewart told her: “I’m looking to the future and once we have built our house, I’m changing the will to make sure you are OK.”
“Malcolm confirmed this to me many times, making me feel secure,” she states in court papers.
Ms Shore and Mr Fisher are yet to respond to the claim.
Dalton, Mr Stewart’s ex-wife of 25 years, was last year jailed after being found guilty of a failed attempt to
have him killed following their “hostile and acrimonious’’ divorce.
Brisbane Supreme Court heard she became “fixated” on having him killed after their relationship broke down irretrievably in 2007 and a fight ensued over assets. The court heard she “pulled the strings” by giving her then-boyfriend a photo of Mr Stewart and a $20,000 down payment on the $40,000 hit. But the hit man never carried out the killing, instead pocketing the cash and moving to NSW.
Dalton screamed “you’ve got it wrong” as the jury found her guilty. She will be eligible for parole in October due to time previously served.