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Lana Lam

Australian police yesterday cracked open a 24-year-old cold case after a man was charged with the gruesome murder in 1990 of his sister-in-law, who was due to testify in a high-profile fraud case in Hong Kong.
Gerard Caleo, 42, was arrested yesterday morning by homicide squad detectives shortly after he landed at Sydney international airport from Kuala Lumpur.
The Australian, who reportedly runs the Hard Rock Café in Phuket, appeared in court charged with soliciting a murder and being an accessory to murder both before and after the fact.
The case involves Chinese-Malaysian Rita Caleo, 39, who was violently stabbed to death in her luxury Sydney home in the early hours of August 10, 1990, while her baby daughter and toddler son slept in the next room.
Gerard Caleo, who was 18 in 1990, is the brother of Rita's husband, Mark Caleo.
On the night Rita was killed, Mark was working at one of his two restaurants, police said.
Ten months earlier on October 16, 1989, Rita's millionaire brother Dr Michael Chye, 36, was shot three times at close range in a gangland-style execution as he drove into the garage of his mansion in the exclusive Sydney suburb of Woollahra.
His killer apparently escaped through the automatic roller garage door within the 10 seconds it took for it to open and close, according to news reports.
Detectives from New South Wales police's unsolved homicide team, who have been working on the case since 2008, called the arrest a major breakthrough.
"But it is by no means the end of the road," Detective Inspector John Lehmann said. "We do think that both the murders are linked. We know there are a number of people who were involved in Mrs Caleo and Dr Chye's deaths and we are hoping to make more arrests."
In April 1989, six months before Chye was shot dead, he was interviewed by investigators from Hong Kong's Independent Commission Against Corruption.
The murdered pair were among 70 witnesses due to testify in the multimillion-dollar fraud trial of former Ka Wah Bank senior executives including Singapore-born Low Chang Hian and his brothers. Low pleaded guilty to multiple charges of conspiracy and theft and was jailed for 51/2 years.
During a joint inquest into Rita and her brother's deaths in 1991, police ruled out a link to the Hong Kong trial.
Rita Caleo, formerly Rita Berne, and Chye's names were used to obtain millions of dollars in an elaborate loan scam from the Ka Wah Bank, which involved a deposit-taking company called Asean Resources Finance.
Rita's death, described by police as a "horrific murder", came just two days after a reward was offered for information on her brother's unsolved murder.
Outside the court in Sydney yesterday, Gerard Caleo's solicitor said his client was shocked by the charges.
"[He] just doesn't believe that this is happening. So, no, he's not coping that well, but he's hanging in there," solicitor Sam Macedone said.
 


24 years on, an arrest at last in witness murder case

Rita Caleo and Dr Michael Chye. Photos: SCMP Pictures

Rita Caleo and Dr Michael Chye.Photos: SCMP Pictures

News

Hong Kong

Australian police yesterday cracked open a 24-year-old cold case after a man was charged with the gruesome murder in 1990 of his sister-in-law, who was due to testify in a high-profile fraud case in Hong Kong.
