Bitter husband gives away all his money to stop wife from getting it

An Australian man who blamed greed for ruining his marriage has acted out the ultimate revenge on his estranged wife. After selling their house for $395,000 he gave every cent to charities, a court has been told. The man, 58, also has boasted he put all his bank statements in a bucket of water and made papier mache out of them. The man told the Federal Magistrates' Court, sitting in Victoria, that he gave the money away anonymously to "eliminate the cause of the divorce".

"I bought about 300-400 envelopes, stamped envelopes," he told the court. "I put a random amount in each. I put charity names and addresses and I sent them out. Some I delivered, some I put in charity boxes. I distributed it in a random fashion." The man, who cannot be identified, told the court he gave the money to charities including Unicef, Oxfam, the Sacred Heart Mission, the Royal Children's Hospital, the RSPCA, the Red Cross, the Brotherhood of St Laurence and Help Haiti.



"I have formed a view that the wife's main concern was the division of family assets," he said. "I felt that as a good Christian I ought to remove temptation and greed from both of us." He said he was now jobless, with $2000 in the bank, a $1000 car, and land worth $10,000.

Magistrate Norah Hartnett concluded the man had taken the drastic action to deprive his wife of any money after 20 years of marriage. Ms Hartnett ordered the man be placed on a 12-month good behaviour bond for breaching court orders to produce documents relating to the sale of the home. In an interim judgment, Ms Hartnett also ordered that a family report be compiled to reach a resolution in the case.