Singer-songwriter Vanessa Amorosi has emphatically denied she ever agreed to hand over full ownership of a Melbourne home to her mother.
The Narre Warren property is central to the 42-year-old’s legal case against her mother Joyleen Robinson, which has gone to trial in the Victorian Supreme Court.
Amorosi claims the $650,000 used to purchase the home in 2001 came from a trust account set up to receive all of her earnings as a singer-songwriter.
She is seeking full ownership of the property, which currently has her and her mother listed as joint-owners.
Vanessa Amorosi leaves the Supreme Court of Victoria on Thursday
Vanessa Amorosi was greeted by a media pack outside a Melbourne court on Thursday
Mrs Robinson claims in early 2001, Amorosi agreed to hand over full ownership of the Narre Warren home if her mother paid her $650,000 when she asked.
The mother said she gave Amorosi $710,000 for the loan to her current American home and therefore the ownership of the Narre Warren property should only be under her name.
During cross-examination, Amorosi repeatedly denied any agreement was made.
But Mrs Robinson’s barrister Daniel Harrison suggested to Amorosi she did not have a good memory and the agreement did take place.
He also put to her that she bought the Narre Warren home for her mother and she never considered it her own property.
Ms Robinson (pictured outside the Supreme Court on Tuesday)
Amorosi denied that assertion, saying it was the first home she bought for herself and she always thought of it as hers.
‘My mum wanted that property from day one, no matter what,’ Amorosi told the court.
‘She made it very clear it was her dream property.’
Mr Harrison also suggested Amorosi had launched the legal proceedings because she was in a difficult financial situation, which Amorosi denied.
The barrister told Justice Steven Moore that Amorosi’s recollections were unreliable, not from malice but simply because she had a poor memory.
Mr Harrison said it ultimately came down to two people with very different accounts of what did or didn’t happen.
Justice Moore should see that Mrs Robinson’s recollection was the only sensible one, Mr Harrison said.
Mrs Robinson is due to give evidence in the trial on Friday afternoon.
