A Gold Coast man accused of murdering his wife amid a bitter divorce dispute says he wasn’t jealous of her lover and paid for their weekends away.

August 30, 2019

A Gold Coast man accused of murdering his estranged wife says he was a caring husband who paid for her weekends away with her lover.

Novy Chardon, 34, went missing on February 6, 2013, amid a bitter divorce dispute with 71-year-old John William Chardon.

The mother of two’s body has never been found.

More than six years after she disappeared, Chardon is fighting a murder charge in the Brisbane Supreme Court.

On Friday, Chardon told the jury he became aware his wife was going out with a man named Ben in mid-2012 but was supportive of their relationship.

He agreed with his lawyer Tony Kimmins he was never jealous and also dated other people when he travelled to Asia.

“She would go away with Ben for two, three, four days and then come back home,” he said.

“She would come home and hand me hotel bills and restaurant bills and I would transfer the money into her account … and I was happy about it.”

“If she was happy, I was happy,” he said.

Chardon told the court he took Ms Chardon to Thailand in late-2012 for a $40,000 “tummy-tuck”.

“Every day I would help her to the toilet and wash her in the shower and dress her and change her dressings,” he said.

The jury was also shown letter from Chardon’s divorce lawyer to Ms Chardon stating he’d agreed to a 50-50 split of his and the couple’s assets and wanted an amicable settlement without going to court.

Chardon said his wife never worked and he gave her a “very good allowance every week”.

“Novy, she never liked getting out of bed, so for the first few years (after their children were born) I would get up … and feed them and change their nappies,” he said.

Chardon said problems began developing in his “really, really good” marriage in 2009 when Ms Chardon started to have panic attacks.

He said he took his wife to a psychiatrist who prescribed strong personality stabilising tablets.

Asked about the business he ran, Chardon wept as he told the jury he started it in 1986 with his first wife, Maureen.

“It took me about four years to come terms,” he said, speaking about her death.

Mr Kimmins said crown prosecutors had successfully proven many things about Chardon “starting with A for arrogant and ending with V for vulgar”.

He said there were also “great suspicions” about his client, who didn’t disagree with much of the evidence already presented to the jury.

But this doesn’t equate to proof of murder beyond a reasonable doubt, he said.

The trial continues.