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SYDNEY — The son of Gina Rinehart, Australia’s richest person, called his youngest sister “an oxygen thief” and suggested she wear a bag over her head, it was alleged Tuesday as a long-running feud over the family’s fortunes finally reached court.

The embarrassing legal fight over control of a multibillion-dollar trust fund has led to the damaging release of private, frequently vitriolic emails and correspondence between Ms. Rinehart and her four children.

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Bianca Rinehart, 37, the oldest, appeared as the first witness in a case that was lodged three years ago.

She told the Supreme Court of New South Wales in Sydney she had been threatened and intimidated by her mother, but was determined to try to gain control of the $5-billion family trust.

She also disclosed she did not invite any family members to her wedding in Hawaii last year because she wanted it to be a “happy affair.”

Bianca was forced to admit she may have referred to her brother, John Hancock, 38 — her effective ally in the case — as an “idiot” and may also have criticized his “destructive” drinking and gambling problems.