On Coady's conscience

WHEN A COURT SET aside Veronika Coady's life sentence for murder in August, the 44-year-old former socialite art promoter believed God had answered her prayers. Although still facing jail for the less serious crime of manslaughter, having been provoked by her Swiss lover into stabbing him, Coady maintained her faith in the legal system. In a letter to a South China Morning Post reporter, the ex-fashion model and designer, who used to rub shoulders with world leaders and tycoons, spoke of looking forward to enjoying tea with her friends when released from jail. 'God has heard my prayers to find the right directions to guide me and see me through,' she wrote in September. 'I am awaiting the . . . hearing, and deep in my heart I firmly believe in the integrity, independence and impartiality of the judicial system in Hong Kong.' But yesterday, that upbeat mood gave way to despair as Coady was sentenced to 10 years by the Court of Appeal for the manslaughter of her Swiss lover, Gregoire Daniel Weil, 42. Clinging to the bars of the dock, sobbing and refusing to go to the cells, she expressed disbelief at the length of the sentence and asked: 'What have I done to deserve this?' As her friends, who had packed the public gallery, rushed to the dock to comfort her, Coady made an emotional address: 'They want to take my life. This is not fair.' Referring to Weil, Coady said: 'I cared for the man. I gave him life. I provided everything for him. This is not justice. I have been hanging on for independence and integrity and justice in Hong Kong . . . What did I do?' As prison officers attempted to persuade her to go to the cells, Coady turned to close friend and business partner Matthew Michalski, 52, an American architect who is determined to stand by her. 'Let me die. I want to die, darling. It is OK . . . if they can give me an injection, I prefer to be executed,' said Coady. Her parting words to her weeping supporters were: 'I love you all, my friends. I love you all.' Coady and her friends had been hoping for a sentence which would enable her to be released immediately, having already served almost three years. The 10-year term was a particular blow to Mr Michalski. He met Coady in Singapore in 1991 and says: 'Our relationship has always been a romantic one.' But Weil got in the way. In December 1996, Coady travelled to Geneva to be with him and Mr Michalski returned to the United States. However, as soon as he learned of Weil's death - Coady called him from Queen Mary Hospital on the morning after the stabbing - he flew to Hong Kong to be by her side. Mr Michalski has continued to give her his total support, visiting her regularly in jail, attending the court hearings, and helping prepare her case. Speaking to the Post after the sentencing yesterday, Mr Michalski said: 'I do not see myself as a martyr. I see myself as someone who very much cares about people. There is a side to her which is very sincere and very beautiful.' The case was a highly unusual one. Lawyers involved had long suspected it was a case of manslaughter, rather than murder. Coady and Weil had a stormy relationship. It seemed likely that Coady had lashed out with the knife while under provocation. The problem was that for more than two years, she insisted she had nothing to do with Weil's death. When he was rushed from his Wan Chai flat to Queen Mary Hospital dying from his wounds in the early hours of December 20, 1997, Coady claimed Weil had been the victim of murderous robbers. At her trial, she rejected invitations from the prosecution to admit manslaughter and instead told the jury Weil had stabbed himself. That led to her being convicted of murder and jailed for life in March last year. It was not until August this year, while appealing against the life sentence, that she finally admitted Weil had died at her hands. Mr Justice Michael Stuart-Moore said: 'It is a very simple question. Were you responsible for his death?' Looking straight ahead, Coady had replied: 'I am guilty of it, your Honour.' Gerard McCoy, SC, one of Coady's barristers in her appeal, had dealt with her refusal to admit responsibility at her trial. He described her as 'a person perhaps swelled up with the sins of pride and perhaps diverting everyone from the realities of the case'. But the delay ultimately led to her receiving a longer sentence than would otherwise have been imposed. Mr Justice Brian Keith said yesterday: 'We recognise she was in denial for a long time and could not bring herself to admit, until recently, publicly, that the deceased had died at her hands.' He added that the court had not given her much credit for her belated plea of guilty when deciding the length of her sentence. Coady, who often appeared in court wearing designer outfits, has not found it easy to adapt to life behind bars and has complained to the Commissioner of Correctional Services about aspects of her treatment. In an outburst during her trial, she told the judge: 'This is the most trying and terrifying situation in my life . . . They handcuffed me like a dog. That is not what I want. I don't want to lead this kind of life.' The contrast to the glittering lifestyle she had previously enjoyed - first as a fashion model, then as a designer, and finally as an art promoter - could not be greater. Her role as an organiser of art exhibitions and efforts to raise money for various charities brought her into contact with, among others, President Joseph Estrada of the Philippines, President Chen Shui-bian of Taiwan, and the last Hong Kong governor, Chris Patten. Mr Michalski said: 'Veronika inspires confidence in people. She has a gift to be able to have a person reflect on their strengths and in their most positive aspect.' When it came to business, Coady was 'the confidence, the buzz'. She was appointed by the Philippine Government to organise painting and photographic exhibitions for the 1996 Asia-Pacific Economic Co-operation summit in Manila. In August that year, in the same city, she had her fateful first meeting with Weil. He bought her a bottle of Dom Perignon champagne at the Shangri-La hotel and she thought him to be 'the perfect gentleman', she told the jury during her trial. 'He was a very trusting person, amiable, charismatic and dignified. He dressed very well, very smartly. He was a gentleman and he loved style.' Weil invited her to Geneva and promised to introduce her to valuable business contacts there. But when she accepted his invitation, in December 1996, her nightmare began. Coady said she discovered Weil was an alcoholic and a drug addict. Describing him as 'highly disturbed and sick', she claimed he beat her and forced her to have sex. But she also said she cared for him 'more than anyone else in this life'. She stayed with him and did not report his abuse to the police because: 'I don't like a scandal. I don't like embarrassment.' Mr Michalski said he had been 'very upset' when Coady went to Geneva, although she told him she was going for business reasons. 'I said: 'you just don't do that when you are involved in a relationship'.' But he kept in contact. 'I was still doing things for her,' he said. Mr Michalski said he had tried to warn Coady about Weil. 'I didn't like the person. I felt he was not really interested. I worried about him.' He believes the couple had a kind of mother-child relationship. 'She took pity on him. There is a very compassionate side to her.' In October 1997, Coady left Geneva for Hong Kong, where she was to organise a number of art exhibitions. She had intended to cut all ties with Weil, but he called her 'every night, every hour, every day', she claimed, adding that he told her he had given up drinking. He joined her here on November 20, 1997, a month before his death and she paid $22,000 as a deposit on his 24th-floor flat at Starlight Gardens, Wan Chai. It was here that Weil was to suffer the injuries which led to his death. Mr Michalski said he had spoken to Coady by phone from Malaysia on the night of the killing. She told him she was going out for dinner. The next morning he received another call from her. She was in hospital. 'She said Gregoire was dying and could I come to Hong Kong to help.' Coady has given several different accounts of the way in which Weil met his death that night. At her trial, she told the jury she and Weil had been out with friends on December 19, 1997, and the two of them had argued. When they returned to the flat, he began flailing his arms around and accidentally hit her, she claimed. She felt dizzy and lay down on her bed, but then she heard 'a loud noise, as if someone was falling to the ground'. Coady said she saw Weil sitting in an armchair. 'He was clutching his heart, I thought he may be having a heart attack . . .' She claimed he must have inflicted the stab wounds himself. The jury did not believe her. A different account was put forward after she admitted manslaughter during her appeal. She maintained that during their argument, while they were out in Mid-Levels, Weil threatened that something would happen to her 25-year-old son from a previous relationship. As they approached the flat in Wan Chai, he had called her a 'whore', accused her of having an affair, pushed her into a lift and pulled her hair. According to a document presented to the court by Coady's lawyers: 'The deceased was laughing, he was acting in a strange, unstable manner. The deceased told the appellant that she could not leave. He made insulting remarks about her and her family. He struck her ankle with the walking stick which he was carrying at the time.' Coady now admits she had been confused and frightened. The couple struggled and Weil raised his arms, striking her painfully in the face. 'She could hear the deceased shouting 'kill me, kill me'. It was apparently at this stage that the appellant [Coady] noticed she was holding the knife. There was a short pause or lull, during which the appellant recalls that the deceased said 'You stabbed me'. The appellant did not believe him,' the submission to the court added. '. . . the appellant recalls that she was holding a knife in her hand, she cannot remember how she came to pick it up. The appellant now admits that she stabbed the deceased with this knife . . . [she] was dizzy and emotionally exhausted; she went into the bedroom to rest.' It was upon this version of events that the court imposed the 10-year sentence. Mr Justice Keith said Coady had been provoked by Weil into losing her self-control. But he added that the provocation was 'relatively slight' and that a sentence at the upper end of the scale was called for. So far as Mr Michalski is concerned, he is still not sure what really happened that night. When he spoke to Coady as Weil lay dying, she told him they had been mugged. 'I still believe he was capable of doing it to himself. I know the person. I spoke to him on the telephone a number of times,' he said. Mr Michalski added that he had believed Coady only admitted the killing as a 'legal ploy' to escape a life sentence for murder. Even with a reduction in her sentence for good behaviour and the time already served in custody, she will not be released for at least three years. But Mr Michalski intends to stand by her. 'There have been many times she has said, 'Go, and leave me'. But I know she needs me.' When he visited her after the sentence was imposed, she was already coming to terms with the situation. 'She is not devastated. She is angry and she is hurt. She believes the sentence is unfair.' As for her death wish at the dock, Mr Michalski said: 'She did not mean that. She just felt hurt and wanted to express herself.' He has already sought legal advice on a possible appeal against the sentence and said: 'I still believe there can be a happy ending for us.' Cliff Buddle (cliff@scmp.com) is the Deputy Editor of the Post's Editorial Pages Graphic: murdgfa