A RAVENSHOE woman, who "unknowingly harboured" a convicted killer for two months, says she feels betrayed he lied about his past. 

Speaking for the first time about her friendship with Graham Gene Potter, the woman, who asked not to be named, says she now wants answers.

Hunt for fugitive Graham Gene Potter leads to Tableland

Victorian Police and the Australian Federal Police last week issued a nationwide alert for Potter, who had allegedly been hired as a hitman to strike at the wedding of Melbourne underworld figure Mick Gatto’s son.

Potter had previously served 15 years jail for the murder of a 19-year-old Melbourne woman, Kim Barry.

Yesterday, the Ravenshoe woman said her relationship with Potter was friendship, and that they had not been intimate.

The woman said she did not know Potter before his arrival in the Far North and had been introduced to him by a friend.

She said she was shocked by his past and felt betrayed.

"He came in the capacity as a WWOOF (Willing Workers On Organic Farms) and worked in exchange for his board and keep,’’ she said.

"My friend met him at the bus stop.

"He was looking for somewhere to live and that’s how he ended up at my place and while he was there, he did some gardening and helped me
clean up.

"He was always so generous and friendly and he had a great sense of humour.

"But now I’m just trying to find some answers.

"I feel really betrayed because he was not the person I thought he was.

"He was in a desperate situation but I had no inclination he was avoiding anybody or that he was on the run."

The woman said she had asked Potter a few questions about his life and accepted his explanation that he was in the region because of "family problems".

"I asked him about his family,’’ she said.

"He told me he didn’t have any kids but he had a wife and he told me he was in the area because he was having some family troubles.

"I didn’t pry any further and just left it at that and after that, he didn’t talk about his family.’’ The woman said she feared Potter’s wife would believe they had been intimate and she wanted to set the record straight.

She said at no time had the relationship moved beyond a friendship.

"I have come forward because I want people to know we were not in a relationship," she said.

"He was at my place for two months and he was nothing but helpful, generous and polite when he was there."

Potter failed to appear at the Melbourne Magistrates’ Court on February 1 on charges of conspiracy to murder and the AFP have also issued a warrant in relation to serious drug charges.

Potter was last seen in Sydney on April 22.

Share this article