Key witnesses Rachel Gillett, Bashara’s ex-girlfriend and Jessica Bashara, his daughter, testified against Robert (Bob) Bashara Wednesday in court to determine if there’s enough evidence to charge Bob for first-degree murder of his wife, Jane. Bashara is charged with first-degree murder in connection with his wife’s Jan. 24, 2012, death, which rocked their hometown of Grosse Pointe Park, Michigan and made national headlines.Prosecutors say Bashara paid his handyman Joseph Gentz to carry out the killing. Gentz is in prison after pleading guilty to the murder, which he says he committed at Bashara’s behest.

Jessica told the court she had no idea about Gillett until after her mother’s death. She says once the news reports came out about Bob’s alleged affairs, he admitted to Jessica that he did have one in the past. Jessica said before her mother’s death, she stumbled upon a sexually-charged text message on her father’s phone, which she confronted him with. She told the court, “I showed my father the text message and asked him what it was, and he asked to look at my phone and deleted the message, handed my phone back and said that there were no messages like that on his phone.”

Jessica also revealed to the court that she caught her father looking at pornography. She says he watched it on the web site alt.com several times, and that his obsession became a source of trouble for their family. Gillett said it was on that same porn site that she and Bob first met. Gillett began her testimony yesterday about their relationship before it was interrupted by a courthouse evacuation due to the power outage. She is due back in court today.

Bob Bashara was upset because his wife, Jane, was not interested in his sado-masochistic sexual practices, while she, having a normal concern, was upset she couldn’t trust him with money, witnesses, including Jane Bashara’s best friend and confidant Patricia Matthews testified in court Monday. Among Matthews’ revelations: Jane was upset because Bashara took $10,000 from her 401(k) account without her permission, prompting her to change her passwords.

The Detroit News reports that during Monday’s testimony, Matthews recalled an incident in August 2011, in which Jane Bashara was upset after their two children caught her husband watching “weird porn.”

“(Jane) was livid; the kids were very upset with him,” Matthews said. “He was watching weird porn and the kids caught him. The kids were very upset; he was going into their emails and answering them, pretending to be them. “(Jane) said he had no boundaries. She said that after (the kids caught Bashara looking at porn), Bob said, ‘Just wait until Jessica graduates from high school, and if you want out of this (marriage), fine.”

Matthews said Jane wanted to keep their marriage together. “She said she was taken aback; she was looking for ways he would improve and not do this.”
“She always said Bob always lies,” Matthews said. “She couldn’t count on what he said. She didn’t trust him with money.”

Before Matthews’ testimony, Robert Godard Jr. took the stand. He said he did business with Bashara for a number of years before the defendant introduced him to the BDSM (bondage/discipline/sadomasochism) lifestyle by inviting him to a party at the sex dungeon he operated beneath his Detroit bar. Godard said he met Bashara’s girlfriend, Rachel Gillett, at a party. He also said Bashara met met many women through that lifestyle, but after Gillett came into the picture, there were no others.

“Rachel was his woman,” Godard said, “He cared for her very much. They were going to buy a home together and make a life together.”

During the summer of 2011, Godard said Bashara approached him during a business lunch with an odd request.“Out of the blue he asked me if I knew anybody who could put a hurt on somebody,” Godard said.“He just indicated he had a tenant who was making a lot of noise over one of his properties, and he wanted to quiet him up. I was a little shocked by it. I (told him) I didn’t know anyone.”

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