The death of Maria Korp
From Wikipedia, the
free encyclopedia.
Maria Korp (b 1955?, d.
August 5, 2005), 50, was an Australian woman reported missing for 4 days
and later found in the boot of her car in Dallas Brooks Drive, outside
the Shrine of Remembrance in Melbourne on February 13, 2005 [1].
Missing person
Korp's husband, Joe
Korp had earlier reported his wife missing to police on February 11,
2005, stating he last saw his wife at their suburban Mickleham home at
approximately 6.30am two days earlier. Korp was found unconcious, brain
damaged and in a coma. She was taken to nearby Alfred Hospital and
placed on life support.
Maria Korp
On February 16, 2005
police charged Joe Korp, 47, and his mistress Tania Herman, 38, with
attempting to murder Maria Korp, conspiracy to murder, and intentionally
causing serious injury. Both appeared the following day in Melbourne
Magistrates Court and were remanded in custody.
On April 28, 2005, the
Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal appointed Victoria's Public
Advocate, Julian Gardner as Mrs Korp's legal guardian.
Herman pleaded guilty
on June 8, 2005 to the attempted murder of Maria Korp and was sentenced
to 12 years imprisonment with a non-parole period of 9 years. Korp was
later released on bail on June 9, and committed to stand trial.
On July 26, 2005,
Gardner announced feeding systems to Maria Korp would be removed and
that she was expected to die within weeks. Korp passed away at 2am on
August 5, 2005. A further charge of murder had been expected to be laid
against her husband.
Tania Herman
Maria Korp's funeral
mass was held on Friday, August 12, 2005 almost exactly 6 months to the
day after she was found. In the hours following the service, Joe Korp
was found dead, apparently having taken his own life at the Mickelham
house they had once shared.
Mental health and
allegations of a sick mind
Public concern has been
raised in relation to the mental health of Maria and Joe Korp due to
numerous eccentricities that came out during the media scrutiny of their
lives after Maria's attempted murder.
Allegations that Maria
Korp once slit a pet goat's throat as a sacrifice to ward off 'evil
spirits' in the family home she shared with Joe Korp were raised
recently as family friends came forward with information to the media.
She allegedly bled the
animal to death before building a wooden pyramid, placing the dying
animal upon it she set it alight.
Whilst being a devout
catholic, her behaviour illustrates highly superstitious and pagan
belief systems which could indicate degrading mental health. In the Korp
residence at Greenvale, the first home shared between Maria and Joe, she
built a shrine outside their bedroom in memory of her second husband,
Manuel, who died of a heart attack in 1987.
Every night Maria Korp
would walk around their Greenvale residence with incense in an incense
burner, praying in an attempt to ward off the evil spirits that haunted
the place.
Maria asked Joe to be
responsible for tending to her prior husbands grave, both Maria and Joe
believed that her past husband haunted the family home and that his
spirit would posess Joe Korp during the night unless Maria Korp threw
her leg over his to 'transfer the spirit'.
When Maria Korp first
found blonde hairs on Joe Korp's car seat, which she suspected belonged
to his lover, Tania Herman, she drew hundreds of small crosses with her
index finger in the dust on the vehicle in an attempt to 'change
destiny'.
After her attempted
murder it came to light that Maria Korp had been on a crusade to recieve
forgiveness from Joe Korp's first wife, her mother-in-law and other
family members for breaking up the marriage of Joe and Leonie Korp.
Claiming she had recieved forgiveness from God, she sought forgiveness
from Leonie Korp's family directly on various occasions.
Two psychics were paid
approximately $150,000 in cash from Maria Korp in a bid to save her
marital and life problems. Michael Fotios and a female associate of his
were hired on over a period of three years. Michaels role was to "pray
for Mrs Korp ... light candles and bring her good luck, peace and
harmony."
It is alleged Mrs Korp
made her last payment of $5000 on February 7 this year. Two days before
she was attacked and left for dead.
Laura De Gois, Mrs
Korps daughter, spoke to the media on the topic of Mrs Korps obsession
with the occult, stating "Mum was the type of person who was
superstitious and believed in curses and things like that. Mum was
buying a lot of candles, crosses and prayers from Michael. It progressed
to the stage where he spoke with Mum on an almost daily basis."
Maria Korp asked her
daughter Laura to obtain a loan in excess of $30,000 to fund her
mysticisms rising bills, she also paid the psychic to bless various
properties owned by the Korp family to keep away the evil spirits that
played quite an active role in the occult obsession that Mrs Korp
illustrated.
Euthanasia
controversy
Anti-euthanasia
campaigners threatened legal action in an attempt to save the life of
Maria Korp in August, 2005. They held peaceful protests outside
Melbourne's Alfred Hospital to demonstrate against the "inhumane"
decision by the Public Advocate, Julian Gardner, to stop artificially
feeding Mrs Korp.
Mrs Korp's feeding tube
was removed on the 27th of July, which began the slow death process, on
the request of the state-appointed legal guardian, Mr Gardner, who
stated that it was "in her best interests to die" as some doctors
claimed she had no prospects of recovery.
An appeal against Mr
Gardner's appointment — as a legal means of challenging his decision —
as Mrs Korp's guardian was not upheld. The protest group's spokesperson,
Mrs Tighe, reported to the media that they would be willing to give
anything a try in order to stop Mrs Korp dying from starvation. Mrs
Korp's husband Joe Korp and her daughter Laura De Gois indicated that
they did not oppose Mr Gardner's decision.
According an ABC radio
report at http://www.abc.net.au/7.30/content/2005/s1422997.htm, Julian
Gardner, the public advocate who made the decision explained that they
talked over a period of months to people who knew her well, to find out
what she believed, and took advice from "an expert Catholic ethicist".
Occuring less than six
months after the international Terri Schiavo controversy, where a woman
in a vegetative state (for a decade or more longer than Mrs Korp) had
her feeding tube removed and starved to death under State-based
instruction also, the euthanasia of Mrs Korp struck a raw nerve in some
parts of Australian society.
Sudden Recollections
Laura De Gois, the 19
year old daughter of Maria Korp from a previous marriage approached the
media on the 30th of August, 2005 with sudden recollections of her
mothers attempted murder. Whilst the credability of Ms De Gois is very
slim based on the prior ecclectic mix of stories and information she has
gone public with, she claims she recalls hearing her mother scream as
she was attacked by Tania Herman.
Laura claimed her
stepfather Joe Korp appeared to be "very anxious" and "extremely
nervous" on February 9, 2005, the day Mrs Korp disappeared from her
suburban Mickleham home. Ms De Gois claimed she was woken by screaming
at 6:30 AM on the day of her mothers dissapearance, she went to check on
her younger brother Damian but found him asleep.
Although unaware of
where the screaming came from she claimed she spent most of the day at
work, in a small hair dressing salon, confused and pondering over it's
origins, stating "But now I know they were coming from the garage where
my mum was being brutally attacked."
Ms De Gois and Maria
Korp illustrated eccentric behavioural patterns with their obsession
with the occult, De Gois having spent much time going over Maria Korps
funeral arangements with Joe Korp only three days after Mrs Korps
dissapearance.
The credability of the
screams in the night claim were not taken too seriously at the time by
mainstream media and the public as Ms De Gois had made a habit of
utilising her new founded fame by giving liberal and gradually growing
testimony to media sources, her stories becoming more ellaborate as time
progressed.
Timeline of events
* February 9, 2005
- Maria Korp was choked unconcious by Tania Herman, her husband Joe
Korp's mistress, in the garage of the Korp family home in Mickleham, in
the outer suburbs of Melbourne. Her body was dumped into the boot of a
vehicle and left near the Shrine of Remembrance.
* February 11 - Joe
Korp reported his wife missing, claiming he last saw her at their
Mickleham residence at 6:30 AM two days prior.
* February 13 - Mrs
Korp was found unconcious in the boot of her car, police question Joe
Korp at length in relation to the matter.
* February 15 -
It's revealed that the Korps were members of a swingers website.
* February 16 - Joe
Korp and Herman arrested and charged with attempted murder of Mrs Korp.
* February 18 -
Doctors claim that Mrs Korp suffered severe brain damage in her coma
whilst on life support in hospital.
* April 28 - The
Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal appoints the state public
advocate as Mrs Korp's guardian.
* June 8 - Herman
pleads guilty to attempted murder of Mrs Korp.
* July 1 - Herman
sentenced to 12 years' jail with a non-parole period of nine years.
* July 19 - Lawyers
acting for Mrs Korp's daughter and administrator Laura De Gois change
the title of the couple's $1.1 million house so Korp will not inherit
Mrs Korp's half if she dies.
* July 26 -
Victoria's Public Advocate Julian Gardner rules that Mrs Korp's feeding
tube should be removed, saying she has no hope of recovery.
* July 27 -
Magistrate changes bail conditions to allow Joe Korp to visit his dying
wife.
* August 1 - Judge
agrees to Ms De Gois' application and cuts Joe Korp out of his wife's
will.
* August 3 - Joe
Korp formally pleaded not guilty to charges of attempted murder,
conspiracy to murder and intentionally causing serious injury.
* August 4 - Joe
Korp committed to stand trial for attempted murder of his wife, formally
pleads not guilty.
* August 5 - Maria
Korp dies in The Alfred Hospital about 2:00 AM EST.
August 12 - Maria Korp
is cremated in a small ceremony. Joe Korp hangs himself the same night
as cremation was against Maria Korp's faith and he believed she was thus
in purgatory and that in taking his own life he could guide her to the
other side.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maria_Korp
Grisly scene too
much for attacker
By CARLY CRAWFORD
12jun05
IT WAS the crimson puddle on the concrete floor
that jolted Tania Herman from her macabre trance.
The enormity of the attack she had just unleashed
on her lover's wife hit home as blood streamed from Maria Korp's mouth
and nose.
"She was face down. I was over the top of
her and I went to pull on the strap and that's when she started
bleeding," Ms Herman told police.
"I noticed blood coming from her nose and
mouth . . . and then I just remember sheer panic went over me and my
whole body started shaking and then that's when I sort of took control
of myself for a minute and then realised what I was doing was wrong.
"I just thought 'Oh God' because her body
was lifeless and it was just limp, like, there was no movement."
Gripped by panic, the would-be assassin
bundled Mrs Korp into the car boot, leaving a blood stain on the floor.
Ms Herman this week admitted trying to
kill Mrs Korp.
But was she acting alone or had she been
manipulated into the act by her deceitful lover?
When the Supreme Court decides Ms Herman's
fate on June 28, it will carefully consider this question.
As the star witness in the prosecution
case against her co-accused Joseph William Korp, Ms Herman is adamant
that he – Maria's husband, her lover – drove her to it.
Mr Korp denies having any role in his
wife's attempted murder.
Ms Herman claims he encouraged her to
strangle Mrs Korp because it was the only way she and Mr Korp could be
together.
He strongly denies any role and has
maintained his innocence.
But Ms Herman told police that his words
echoed in her mind as she staged the attack at 6.20am on Wednesday,
February 9.
"I just kept hearing this voice saying
'you've got to do this, it's my only way out . . . you've got to do this
for me. Don't let her out alive, she can't come out of the garage
alive'," she said.
In her record of interview, Ms Herman
doubts her ability to carry out the crime.
Despite her obvious physical advantage –
triathlete Ms Herman stands about 20cm taller than the mother of two –
she was not confident she could overpower her victim. Mrs Korp was
feisty by reputation.
"Quite a while back, Joe used to say 'no
one could ever beat Maria in strength' . . . he used to always comment
how strong she was and she'd put in a solid day's work like any man."
Ms Herman told police that Mr Korp had
spoken about having his wife killed in a fake burglary, a phony car
accident or a bashing.
She alleged he had even joked about her
death.
"We might have been out shopping or
something and there was one occasion that I remember and we went past,
like, all the cutlery section and he goes, 'we might need to pick up a
knife, I might need to use that' . . . and he just started laughing."
Ms Herman insisted she had been
"brainwashed" into killing Mrs Korp by her lover.
There are moments of black comedy in her
account.
As she fled on foot after dumping Mrs
Korp's car at the Shrine of Remembrance, she was carrying the victim's
mobile phone.
It rang.
"Oh sh--" she thought, and tossed it off
the Princes Bridge.
"I remember throwing it over and as it
went down it hit a boat and it went into the Yarra, and then I just kept
walking," Ms Herman said.
She stumbled during the attack because she
was wearing Mr Korp's oversized shoes as part of her disguise. And to
conceal the crime, she used an ice-cream scoop to dig a hole in which to
bury some of the evidence.
"I had a big shovel, a long-handled one
and I thought I can't take that. It's just too noticeable."
The task must have tested her patience.
She had dug a hole about 30cm deep and wide enough for a pair of men's
blood-spattered sneakers.
Ultimately, Ms Herman was relieved that
Mrs Korp had been found alive.
At the conclusion of the four-hour police
interview, she re-affirmed her commitment to help police as best she
could.
Then she asked: "I don't have to be
handcuffed, do I?"
Herman jailed for 12 years
By Elissa Hunt
02jul05
TANIA Herman will
spend at least nine years behind bars for choking her love rival and
leaving her for dead in a car boot.
She showed no emotion yesterday as a Supreme
Court judge in Melbourne declared her fate.
Her victim, devoted mother Maria Korp, 50,
is unlikely to survive the attack that has left her in a coma for four
months.
Herman, 38, pleaded guilty to attempted
murder. Her sentence was discounted for her promise to give evidence
against her lover, Mrs Korp's husband Joe Korp, whom she says planned
the callous crime.
The Director of Public Prosecutions has
said she will not face a murder charge should Mrs Korp die from her
injuries.
But Mr Korp, 47, who has denied any part
in the bid to kill his wife, could be charged with murder.
Herman's family was in court for the
sentencing and said she was very nervous and stressed, but they were
happy with the result.
Her sister, Fiona Deegan, said they would
stand behind the Greenvale mother of two.
Justice Bernard Teague imposed a prison
term of 12 years with a non-parole period of nine years, but said it
would have been longer had she not agreed to give evidence against Mr
Korp.
The judge said Herman was hopelessly naive
and completely dependent on Mr Korp after meeting him in an internet
chat room.
"You became besotted with him. You
believed his lies. You allowed him to control your life," Justice Teague
said.
"You were blinkered, if not blinded, by
your passion for him."
Herman was a single mother with a
dependant personality disorder who had suffered sexual abuse as a child
and two broken marriages.
Mr Korp strengthened his hold over by her
staging his own death and reappearance in August last year - a striking
example of his control, the judge said.
He described the attempted murder as a
planned, callous attack on a woman Herman did not even know, having
gleaned her only information about her from Mr Korp.
He said Herman waited in the garage of the
Korps' $1 million Mickleham home on February 9 after Mr Korp drove her
there as part of their scheme to get rid of his wife.
After a struggle Mrs Korp went limp and
Herman put her into the boot of her own car and headed for the city, not
stopping to check her victim's health even though she admitted hearing
her gasp for air.
The judge said an important part of
sentencing was considering the impact of the crime on loved ones, noting
that Mrs Korp's children had suffered greatly and would almost certainly
lose their beloved mother.
He said factors in Herman's favour
included her clean record, her genuine remorse and the excellent chances
of rehabilitation.
Throughout the brief sentencing, Herman -
who again wore a feminine pink knit and pleated skirt - averted her eyes
from the courtroom's spectators.
After the hearing, Herman was taken back
to the Dame Phyllis Frost Correctional Centre at Deer Park, where she
will serve her sentence.
The Supreme Court earlier heard that she
had been assaulted in jail and she faced being ostracised by other
inmates for being an informer.
Mr Korp is planning to spend tonight in
Swan Hill at the home of his former wife, Leonie, after getting
permission from a magistrate during the week.
Mr Korp is due to face a preliminary
hearing next month.
http://www.sundaytimes.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,7034,15793099%255E421,00.html
Key dates in Maria Korp saga
August
5, 2005
February 9, 2005 - Maria Korp choked
unconscious by her husband Joe's mistress Tania Herman in the garage of
the Korp home in outer suburban Melbourne, and dumped in her car boot
near the Shrine of Remembrance.
February 11 - Joe Korp reports his wife
missing, saying he last saw her at their Mickleham home about 6.30am two
days earlier.
February 13 - Mrs Korp found unconscious
in the boot of her car outside the Shrine of Remembrance.
- Her husband Joe Korp, 47, says police
question him and consider him a suspect.
February 15 - It's revealed that the Korps
were members of a swingers website.
February 16 - Joe Korp and Herman arrested
and charged with attempted murder of Mrs Korp.
February 18 - Doctors say Maria Korp brain
damaged and in coma, on life support.
April 28 - The Victorian Civil and
Administrative Tribunal appoints the state public advocate as Mrs Korp's
guardian.
June 8 - Herman pleads guilty to attempted
murder of Mrs Korp.
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July 1 - Herman sentenced to 12 years'
jail with a non-parole period of nine years.
July 19 - Lawyers acting for Mrs Korp's
daughter and administrator Laura De Gois change the title of the
couple's $1.1 million house so Korp will not inherit Mrs Korp's half if
she dies.
July 26 - Victoria's Public Advocate
Julian Gardner rules that Mrs Korp's feeding tube should be removed,
saying she has no hope of recovery.
July 27 - Magistrate changes bail
conditions to allow Joe Korp to visit his dying wife. A tearful Korp
says he still loves his wife "very much".
August 1 - Judge agrees to Ms De Gois'
application and cuts Joe Korp out of his wife's will.
August 4 - Joe Korp committed to stand
trial for attempted murder of his wife, formally pleads not guilty.
August 5 - Maria Korp dies in The Alfred
Hospital about 2am (AEST).
AAP
http://www.smh.com.au/news/national/key-dates-in-maria-korp-saga/2005/08/05/1123125881966.html?oneclick=true
Korp's family to decide her fate
A Victorian court has
heard the family of a woman found unconscious in the boot of her car
will soon have to decide whether to turn off her life support.
Maria Korp, 50, was
found unconscious in the boot of her car at the Shrine of Remembrance in
Melbourne in February this year.
Her husband Joseph
Korp, 47, and his mistress Tania Herman, 38, have been charged with
attempted murder.
A neurologist treating
Mrs Korp has told the Melbourne Magistrates Court that if his patient
remains in a vegetative state for another month, the hospital and the
family would have to decide whether or not to withdraw life support.
Joseph Korp has vowed
to fight any plan to switch off her life support.
Korp's lawyer Michael
Toby QC told the court "my client would be taking action to ensure that
doesn't happen".
The court heard
litigation over switching off life support could drag on for years.
Korp has denied any
involvement in the murder plot.
His lawyer told the
court Herman acted alone when she attempted to strangle the victim.
Korp is applying for
bail. If Mrs Korp dies the charges against her husband could be upgraded
to murder.
Accused husband asks to visit dying wife
Wednesday, 27 July 2005. 08:13 (AEST)Wednesday,
27 July 2005. 08:13 (ACST)Wednesday,
27 July 2005. 09:13 (AEDT)Wednesday,
27 July 2005. 06:13 (AWST)
Maria Korp ... doctors set
to turn off life support. (File photo)ABC TV
Melbourne man Joe Korp will ask a court to
change his bail conditions so he can visit his wife one last time.
Korp is on bail facing charges of
attempted murder after his wife, Maria, was found in the boot of her car
in February.
His 38-year-old lover, Tania Herman, was
recently jailed for nine years on the same charge.
Maria Korp has been artificially fed
through a tube since February.
Victoria's public advocate, Julian
Gardner, says her life support will be turned off today.
"Mrs Korp's medical condition has been
declining and it has not been possible to stabilise her condition," Mr
Gardner said.
Mr Gardner says the decision to take Mrs
Korp off life support was a difficult one.
"The treating team at the Alfred Hospital
has advised me that her condition is now terminal," he said.
Joe Korp's lawyer, Peter Ward, says his
client wants to see his wife a last time.
"It will be our application that he be
permitted to see her," Mr Ward said.
"He would like to see her one more time
before she passes away."
Mr Korp will appear in the Melbourne
Magistrates Court this morning.
Right to Life campaigners have criticised
the decision to stop feeding Mrs Korp.
Right to Life Australia president Margaret
Tighe says doctors who remove Mrs Korp's feeding tube today will be
assisting in her death.
She says the decision is premature and
made before it is certain she will never recover from her injuries.
"They should not be removing her feeding
tube unless she was absolutely imminently dying and her body was
absolutely shutting down," she said.
But right to die advocate Philip Nitsche
says there would never have been a good time to withdraw the life
support, saying Mrs Korp's doctors are best placed to make a prognosis.
"Without any real knowledge of what the
patient wanted, that's a reasonable decision - wouldn't want to be kept
like this indefinitely," he said.
The Australian Medical Association says
feeding tubes are often withdrawn from patients in vegetative states
ws Home | Story
Right-to-lifers protest over 'starvation'
From:
By James
Madden
July 29, 2005
A GROUP of
anti-euthanasia campaigners is considering taking legal action in an
attempt to save the life of woman-in-the-boot Maria Korp.
The
Right to Life group will hold a peaceful protest this morning outside
Melbourne's The Alfred hospital to demonstrate against the "inhumane"
decision by the Public Advocate, Julian Gardner, to stop artificially
feeding Mrs Korp, who has been in a vegetative state since being found
in the boot of her car on February 13.
Doctors at The Alfred removed Mrs Korp's
feeding tube on Wednesday after Mr Gardner, who was appointed as her
legal guardian in April, ruled that it was "in her best interests" as
she had no prospects of recovery and her health was steadily
deteriorating.
It is expected that without food or water,
Mrs Korp will die within a fortnight.
But Margaret Tighe, president of Right to
Life Australia, said last night that the group would consider all legal
avenues in a quest to overturn Mr Gardner's decision and to have Mrs
Korp's feeding tube reinserted.
Under the Victorian Civil and
Administrative Tribunal act, any group or member of the public can
challenge the appointment of a legal guardian. If an appeal against Mr
Gardner's appointment as Mrs Korp's guardian was upheld, it is possible
that further legal action could be taken to review his decision to cease
her artificial nutrition.
Mrs Tighe said that although no plans had
yet been made to launch legal action to oppose the Public Advocate's
decision, the issue would be discussed at today's protest.
"We would be willing to give anything a
try in order to stop her dying from starvation," Mrs Tighe said.
However, Mrs Korp's husband Joe Korp, who
is accused of her attempted murder, and her daughter Laura De Gois, have
indicated that they do not oppose Mr Gardner's decision.
http://www.news.com.au/story/0,10117,16082002-2,00.html
I woke to mum's scream: Korp daughter
21:29
AEST Mon Aug 29 2005
AAP
The teenage daughter of Maria Korp, the
mother who came to be known as the woman in the boot, woke to chilling
screams the day the 50 year old went missing.
Laura De Gois, 19, says her stepfather Joe
Korp appeared to be "very anxious" and "extremely nervous" on February
9, the day Mrs Korp disappeared from her suburban Mickleham home.
Mrs Korp was found unconscious and choked
in the boot of her car at Melbourne's Shrine of Remembrance on February
13.
She spent six months in a vegetative state
in The Alfred hospital before doctors stopped tube feeding under the
authorisation of her guardian. She died on August 5.
Miss De Gois says she was initially
puzzled by the screams that woke her about 6.30am (AEST).
She thought it could have been her younger
brother Damian, but she checked him and he was asleep.
"I wasn't aware where they were coming
from back then," the hairdresser told New Idea magazine.
"I thought about the scream at the salon
that morning and I was confused ... I knew I hadn't dreamt it up but I
just couldn't explain it.
"But now I know they were coming from the
garage where my mum was being brutally attacked."
Joe Korp's former lover, Tania Herman,
pleaded guilty in June to the attempted murder of Mrs Korp and also
implicated Joe Korp in the crime.
Mr Korp, 47, was committed to stand trial
for attempted murder but committed suicide earlier this month. He
protested his innocence right up until he hanged himself at the family
home on August 12 - the same day his wife was laid to rest.
Miss De Gois said her stepfather started
acting strange on the day Mrs Korp went missing, and before police were
called.
"He was very anxious - pacing up and down
and looking extremely nervous," she said.
Miss De Gois said Mr Korp and her also
started planning Mrs Korp's funeral after she had been missing only two
days.
"It was as if she'd already died. Joe was
crying all the time and protesting his innocence even though nobody had
suggested he'd done anything," she said.
http://news.ninemsn.com.au/article.aspx?id=56816
Herman to testify against Korp
By Jamie
Berry and Jesse Hogan
June 28, 2005 - 5:13PM
Tania Herman arrives at the Supreme Court
this morning.
Photo: Jason South
Tania Herman should get a reduced sentence
for agreeing to testify against her former lover, Joe Korp, her lawyer
told the Supreme Court today.
Tania Lee-Anne Herman, formerly of
Greenvale, has pleaded guilty to the attempted murder of Maria Korp, the
woman found unconscious in the boot of her car in February.
Maria Korp's husband, Joseph William Korp,
47, of Mickleham, has also been charged with attempted murder, but
maintains his innocence. He has been bailed and will answer the charge
in August.
Mrs Korp is in a permanent vegetative
state at The Alfred hospital, expert witnesses told the Supreme Court.
Her daughter, Laura de Gois, told the
court in a victim impact statement that with her mother's death, her
life had changed forever, because she had lost her best friend.
Herman's lawyer, Julie Sutherland, said
Joe Korp was "the leader and the instigator'' and the one who "devised
and planned'' the callous attack, in which Herman strangled Maria Korp
in the Korps' Mickleham garage, and left her for dead in the boot of a
car, which she dumped at the Shrine of Remembrance.
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Police found Maria Korp with "a large
amount of dried blood around her mouth and nose area", according to the
brief of evidence.
The former lovers exchanged 71 phone calls
in the six days leading to their arrest, the court was told.
Ms Sutherland said Herman should be given
"the maximum discount'' possible for preparing to testify against Joe
Korp.
"(He's) the one who secured the agency of
my client to carry out his dastardly wishes,'' Ms Sutherland said.
"She has indicated that she will not only
assist the Crown, she has provided a very lengthy statement. She knows
the road ahead for her is going to be a very difficult one.''
Chief Crown Prosecutor, Jeremy Rapke, QC,
conceded that Herman showed remorse, but said that may not have been the
only reason for her confession to police.
I meant
Joe to be my world. He was just everything I could have wished for. I
was stupid wasn't I?"
TANIA HERMAN
"On any view, it was a callous and very
cold-blooded crime. It was motivated by selfishness,'' Mr Rapke said.
"Mrs Korp has no future. She is five
kilometres down the road in a hospital bed and she will not recover from
her injuries.''
Stain on her soul
Herman's decision to kill Maria Korp was,
Ms Sutherland said, "a stain on her soul for the rest of her life".
Herman was a hardworking woman who had
endured a string of failed, abusive relationships as an adult, she told
the court.
She said Joe Korp had "played her like a
Stradivarius", and that Herman bitterly regretted their meeting through
an internet chat site.
"The split second, she picked up Joseph
William Korp's profile was the split second that changed her life
forever," Ms Sutherland said.
Ms Sutherland said that Joe Korp had told
Herman he would undergo a commitment ceremony with her - in lieu of
marriage - and that he wanted to have children with her, namely a son.
Ms Sutherland revealed that Herman had
suffered significant sexual abuse between the ages of eight and 14.
Defence witness Dr Patrick Newton, a
forensic psychologist, said this abuse had affected all of Herman's
subsequent relationships, including two marriages.
"It appeared it undermined her sense of
safety and security in the world," Dr Newton said.
He described Herman and Korp's
relationship as a "traumatic bonding".
"She saw him in many ways as her soul mate
. . . to be her protector," he said.
"Her sexual abuse history led her to
confuse affection and pain."
Dr Newton said Herman felt "abandoned" and
"betrayed" when Korp faked his own death - he had a friend contact
Herman to tell her he had been killed in a car accident in Barcelona.
Under cross-examination from Mr Rapke, Dr
Newton conceded that Herman had provided no evidence of this abuse, and
that she had "refused" to name the person who abused her.
Ms Sutherland indicated that Herman was
willing to testify in court to support her earlier statements.
According to homicide squad transcripts
tendered to the court, Herman said: "I didn't really want to go through
with it. Joe wanted her dead. I just would have preferred that he had
left her like a decent person.
"I just kept hearing Joe, that she could
not come out alive."
''I meant Joe to be my world. He was just
everything I could have wished for. I was stupid wasn't I?"
When she was told Mrs Korp had survived
during her police interview, Herman said: "Actually I was quite relieved
in one sense that she was alive, because I was feeling quite guilty
about it."
She told detectives she was sorry she ever
became associated with Joe Korp.
"I meant Joe to be my world. He was just
everything I could have wished for. I was stupid, wasn't I?" she said.
Herman's parents, William and Daphne
Deegan, were in court for the plea hearing, as was her sister and one of
her brothers.
She also has two daughters - Carolita, 16,
and Taylor, 8.
Justice Bernard Teague remanded Herman for
sentencing on a date to be fixed.
Soucre:
http://www.theage.com.au/news/national/lover-pleads-guilty-over-korp-murder-bid/2005/06/28/1119724612949.html?oneclick=true
Sealed with a scowl
Terry Brown
03aug05
TANIA Herman and Joe Korp's eyes met across a
crowded room, fleetingly.
Mr Korp dropped his eyes sharply, as if he'd been
stung, and stared down at his highly polished shoes. Herman's glare
continued.
She was talking about how Mr Korp left her
and went back to his wife with the withering look of a woman scorned.
"To my knowledge," she said, "he lied to
me," pronouncing each word as if it was written with a capital.
"He said he was going to his friend's in
Bendigo . . ."
Six months earlier, Herman and Mr Korp
were a hot item.
But with Mr Korp's wife, Maria, in the
Alfred hospital dying, the honeymoon was over -- if not the fireworks.
Magistrates' Court 14 was so packed
yesterday that chairs filled aisles and those standing blocked the door.
Non-essential onlookers were asked
politely but firmly to leave.
The crowd was there because, with her
social calendar clear for the next nine years, Herman had a firm date
with Mr Korp.
Preceded by the sounds of locks clicking
and keys jangling, Herman arrived for Mr Korp's committal. Dressed in
pink, she walked through the court to the dock to give evidence.
Mr Korp, immaculately groomed with his
haircut barely days old, tried not to look but couldn't suppress a peek.
Hair blonde and bobbed, Herman looked
rested but her lips were drawn tight together.
Mostly, she looked at Mr Korp and he
looked at his lawyer, his knees or his shoes.
In evidence before lunch, she unfailingly
referred to him as Mr Korp or Joseph Korp.
They were close enough to touch hands had
they each risen to their feet. But the only closeness was the physical
proximity as hackles rose during evidence after lunch. "He told me he
was going back to (Maria) to sort things out," Herman accused.
Evidence was led from Mrs Korp's
sister-in-law Valerie that Herman was dangerously jealous. She claimed
Herman hated Mrs Korp and had said: "I'd kill her. I wouldn't even
hesitate."
Herman denied the comment, but detailed
her attempt to do just that in the Korps' garage. It was alleged, too,
that Herman had taunted Mrs Korp outside the school where they both sent
their children.
"I'm the winner," she was alleged to have
said. "I'm gonna get your husband.
"He's mine."
Herman angrily denied it all. "I went out
of my way to avoid this," she said, firing a scorching glance at her
former lover, "and Joseph knows this."
"I walk 2km with my child (avoiding Maria)
because I have been told by Joseph Korp he doesn't want any instances
(sic)."
The court heard the father of Herman's
daughter Tayelor had recently died.
Tayelor had night terrors and cried in her
sleep.
Herman admitted giving the girl panadol
just before she went to strangle Mrs Korp, then leaving her to wake up
alone at home.
"It was done under Joseph's insistence,"
she said, scowling in his direction.
When Herman finished her evidence she
walked across the court, not even glancing at Mr Korp, and left to
return to jail.
Mr Korp did not acknowledge her.
Six months on, there was no love lost
between the pair -- or perhaps the exact opposite.
Source:
http://www.heraldsun.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5478,16133685%5E661,00.html
Korp disinherited, faces court
By Melissa Jenkins and Charisse Ede
02aug05
JOE Korp was cut
out of his dying wife's will yesterday as he faced a committal hearing
charged with her attempted murder.
Maria Korp, 50, has been unconscious and in a
vegetative state in The Alfred hospital, Melbourne, since she was found
in the boot of her car near the Shrine of Remembrance on February 13.
She is expected to die within days after
Victoria's Public Advocate authorised doctors to stop tube-feeding her.
Yesterday, Mr Korp, 48, faced charges of
attempted murder, conspiracy to murder and intentionally causing serious
injury to Mrs Korp, his second wife.
His committal hearing comes a month after
his former lover, Tania Herman, was sentenced to a minimum nine years in
jail for the attempted murder of Mrs Korp.
Herman, 38, pleaded guilty to the charge.
Before giving evidence at the Melbourne
Magistrates Court yesterday, Mrs Korp's daughter, Laura De Gois,
successfully applied to have Korp disinherited.
Practice Court Justice Philip Mandie
granted Ms De Gois' application to have her and her 11-year-old brother
made the new beneficiaries.
Ms De Gois appeared calm while she gave
evidence at Mr Korp's committal hearing, confirming the layout of the
Mickleham marital home, and explaining that her mother's wedding ring
and a gold necklace, which she usually wore, were missing after she was
found in the car boot.
In a statement made to police, which was
tendered to the court, Ms De Gois said she had heard screaming, which
she thought was her brother, about 6.30am (AEST) on the morning her
mother disappeared.
"It sounded like it was coming from the
front end of the house, which is where mum and Joe's bedroom is, " she
said.
"When I heard the scream I ... went into
my brother's room ... I asked him if he was the one screaming.
"He said no and went back to sleep. Then I
went back to my bedroom and went back to sleep."
Ms De Gois told police she and her mother
had paid a psychic named Michael, and a woman connected to him named
Martha, more than $150,000 over three years to pray for the family and
help sort out their problems.
Herman's brother, Stephen Deegan, 45, was
cross-examined at the hearing, but his evidence was suppressed until
after Herman gives evidence today.
In his statement to police, which was
tendered in court, Mr Deegan recalled a conversation he had with Tania
and Joe sometime before Christmas 2004.
"It was about this time that Tania and Joe
started talking about killing Joe's wife, Maria," he said in his
statement.
Mr Deegan told police the pair had asked
him to explain the best way to "knock someone off".
"I also said the best way would be to
garrotte a person," he said, adding that "you can't get much stronger
than a piano wire.
"They asked me what I would use and I said
I would use a belt.
"That's when Tania said they would bump
Maria off."
Mr Deegan said he visited Herman's
Greenvale home a few days before, or the night before, Mrs Korp went
missing.
"When I got to her place Tania told me
that she and Joe were going to kill Maria," he said in his statement.
"She was very matter of fact about it, and
it was like she had already done it."
Mr Deegan said Herman had turned up at his
workplace in the Melbourne CBD on the day Mrs Korp went missing, and he
had given her a lift home.
"She said that she had strangled Maria and
dumped her body in the back of her car," he said in his statement.
Herman is due to give evidence when the
hearing before Magistrate John Hardy continues today.
Source:
http://www.thesundaymail.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5936,16114657%255E1702,00.html
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