Maurice Thibeault and Denise Robertson lived together since 2015. Photo / Facebook
Maurice Thibeault and Denise Robertson lived together since 2015. Photo / Facebook
Most of us have fantasised about winning the lottery from time to time.
But instead of a C$6.2 million ($6.9m) lotto win bringing joy to one relationship, it ripped them apart.
When the winning lottery numbers came up on Canadian Maurice Thibeault and his girlfriend's ticket, he decided to runaway, leaving their family home without a trace.
Denise Robinson said the couple had always agreed they would share money if they ever won the lottery, but Thibeault had more sinister ideas.
He purchased the ticket last month that ultimately won him half of the C$12.2 million jackpot but didn't tell his girlfriend.
He quietly packed his bags, had taken his passport and left behind a two-and-a-half year relationship.
The warning signs Robertson missed
"When I look back, I recall that he did approximately 15 loads of laundry of all his clothes the night prior, and didn't put them into the drawers and closets as if he was preparing to pack up and leave," she said in the statement.
Robertson provided screen shots of text messages between her and Thibeault as evidence he knew about the winning ticket. Photo / CBC
Now, in a case which has Canada gripped, Robertson has filed a court injunction to stop Thibeault from claiming the winnings, half of which she believes rightfully belong to her.
"I am greatly saddened and disappointed by what has happened here," Robertson said in a statement from her legal firm, Colautti Landry Pickard.
"This could have been a very happy and exciting time for us, a couple, to do things we could only dream of doing."
