His Bay of Plenty cousin, Tina de Malmanche, has said de Malmanche is too dumb to be a drug smuggler.
But that opinion is not shared by three people in the Wanganui region. None of them wanted to be named.
One man, who had met de Malmanche once, said he was far from stupid and was a con artist. De Malmanche had got friendly with this man's mother about 10 years ago, when both were living in Nelson.
He told the older woman he was trying to sell a boat and needed money urgently but was waiting to receive the purchase price. She gave him $1600, which he said he would pay back. But He didn't, and she never saw him again, her son claims.
The police were not told, because the mother was embarrassed by her mistake.
Her son predicted there would be other women who had been tricked by de Malmanche.
"He had the gift of the gab, I will tell you that. He was not stupid by any means."
Neighbours of de Malmanche in Wanganui said he hated noise, and especially barking dogs. When their dog barked, even briefly, he would stand outside their house and swear and yell threats.
"He was disgusting, a disgusting man. I found him frightening."
He had also "screamed and yelled" about noise from another neighbour who played "fabulous music", they said.
"When he first moved in, he upset everybody who owned a dog."
TV3 reported on Monday that he may be co-operating with Balinese police to find the source of an international drug ring. His emails talk of packages moving about and he had applied for an entry visa to China.
The NZ Herald reports he will need at least $100,000 to pay for a lawyer to fight the Indonesian death penalty.
