Hoax or healer?

After the death of their father, Gary Nunn’s sister consulted psychics to help her through the grief. But were they fraudsters, out to exploit the vulnerable, or did they really have a direct line to the afterlife? Gary set out to find the truth.

- GARY NUNN

September 2016: the Supreme Court of New South Wales was hearing a liquidation case about corporate mismanagement. A duller scene you could not visualise – lots of suits, grey hair and officious-looking clerks. Then she arrived. Strutting between the grandiose columns was a woman ready to shake everything up. She oozed glamour: a glossy brunette hairdo with a peroxided front streak; dangly pearl earrings; a skin-tight grey jacket with a faux-fur trim. Even her name felt exotic: Nevine Rottinger.

When Nevine was called to the witness box in Court 7D, the intake of breath in the hushed courtroom was audible. Clients – owed an eye-watering $61 million as a result of this stockbroking firm’s collapse – watched with furrowed brows, hell-bent on retribution. Reporters sat poised to gulp down every detail of this remarkable case.

Jewellery jangled as Nevine walked up to the witness box. The pungent smell of celebrity perfume intoxicated those assembled. The furious typing of a clerk momentarily halted as she peered over her half-moon glasses and watched this unconventional figure step forward, heels clicking on the hard flooring.

The enigmatic witness was asked to explain her job description. After a pause, she said: “Hmm. I think I’m known as a professional intuitive and an energy healer.”

The typing of the clerk recommenced and journalists hungrily noted this delicious detail. But Nevine wasn’t on trial. Oh no: BBY, the company Glenn Rosewall was executive chairman of and which had spectacularly imploded, was in the spotlight.