A former TV presenter has been found not guilty of attempted murder after he was accused of trying to kill a Penthouse Pet and her boyfriend with a parcel bomb.
Roberto de Heredia was on trial for allegedly sending an explosive device in a shoe box to model Simone Cheung’s home in Belrose in 1998.
The package was picked up by Cheung’s boyfriend at the time, Brett Boyd, and detonated in his face. He lost a thumb and an eye in the explosion.
De Heredia, who was a presenter on Foxtel Television Shopping network, was alleged to have sent out the bomb after falling out with the couple, who reportedly owed him $80,000.
After he was charged three months later, de Heredia allegedly faked his own death, fled the country with a fake passport, and went on the lam for 17 years.
Roberto de Heredia, a former presenter for the Foxtel Television Shopping network was found not guilty of attempted murder after he was accused of trying to kill Penthouse Pet and her boyfriend with a parcel bomb in 1998
De Heredia was alleged to have mailed the explosive device to model Simone Cheung (left) and her then boyfriend Brett Boyd (right) home in Belrose
Before his arrest, he had last been seen on July 27, 1999, driving a blue four-wheel-drive in Rose Bay, Sydney.
Police found the car days later in Kings Cross. The driver’s seat and door was covered in blood, leading officers to believe he had died.
Boyd came in contact with the package which then exploded in his face causing him to lose and eye and a thumb
However, an investigation by NSW Police determined the former television host had allegedly staged the incident to fake his own death.
He was finally arrested in 2016 at London’s Gatwick Airport after flying in from Spain to visit his family.
De Heredia was tried in 2017 but that trial resulted in a hung jury.
This week, a jury of six men and six women found him not guilty after deliberating for one day, The Daily Telegraph reported.
The court heard de Heredia’s DNA was found on the stamps used to send the parcel and on a post note.
His lawyer, Grant Brady told the court de Heredia fled Australia because he feared for his life after Boyd was arrested for standing outside a police station with a machine gun as he waited for him to be released in 1999.
Boyd, who died in 2008, is seen in evidence photos showing his injuries after receiving the parcel bomb
The man had his right thumb blown off while also suffering facial scars
Boyd was severely injured after the package exploded in his face and threw him more than 8 metres in the air.
He was almost blinded in the blast, losing his left eye and 80 per cent of vision in his right eye, while also losing his right thumb and suffering facial scars.
The courts were told Boyd, then 29, and Cheung – were planning to use the $80,000 to set up a ‘sex website.’
Just weeks later on July 7, an unknown gunman shot de Heredia in the shoulder and arm when he returned to his apartment in Sydney.
The courts were told Boyd, then 29, and Cheung – were planning to use the money to set up a ‘sex website’
Mr Boyd committed suicide in 2008.
The court also heard from a woman, Ros Switzer-Hewson, who had been dating de Heredia at the time, who said he once asked her if superglue would hold nuts and bolts together, the publication reported.
She also claimed he lied about where he was the night of the explosion.
Throughout the investigation, it was uncovered that de Heredia created at least two fake identities and had passports issued in the UK under the names Robert Valentine Shorthouse and Robert Jackson.
He reportedly used the passports regularly since 2011 to travel between England and Spain, where de Heredia had been working as a foreign exchange trader in Spain.
Cheung pleaded guilty to importing methamphetamine in September 2016 and was sentenced to a minimum six-and-a-half years jail.