The court rejected the second appeal of an Adelaide man who killed his wheelchair-using wife by throwing her into a pond. The man was given a life sentence.
In December 2020, Peter Rex Dansie was found guilty of killing his 67-year-old wife Helen in 2017 by pushing her wheelchair into a pond in Veale Gardens, an Adelaide parkland.
Grant Dansie, his son, expressed his satisfaction that “justice has finally been served after so many years” following the appeals court’s decision to deny his father’s second request for release today.
Peter Dansie has always maintained that he dove into the pond to try to save his wife after inadvertently pushing the wheelchair into it.
The court determined that has always been a lie in a hearing that lasted less than thirty seconds.
According to Grant Dansie, he was “really, really happy to get it over and done with”.
After being shoved into the shallow parklands pond, his mother Helen perished.
Grant Dansie remarked outside of court, “We saw from the first court case that he refused to testify, wasn’t willing to engage at all and say what happened.”
“There was no story as to how mum entered the water at that time, or what happened afterwards” .
It was thought that Peter Dansie killed his wife for both financial and personal reasons.
Dansie had a suitcase packed when his wife passed away, and it was assumed that he planned to travel to China to continue his connection with a woman he had met online.
He had also promptly claimed the proceeds from his wife’s insurance.
According to their son Grant, the past seven years have been difficult financially and emotionally.
“Emotionally it’s always there, it’s always behind you,” he stated.
“Financially, we’ve got to come back and forth to Australia.”
According to the court’s ruling today, Dansie will serve the whole minimum 25 years and most likely die in prison.
