The family of slain mother Karen Ristevski is gearing up for a tell-all interview with her daughter who supported her killer father, Borce Ristevski.
The 55-year-old killed Karen at their home Avondale Heights, Melbourne, in June 2016, before dumping her body in bushland.
This Sunday night, Ms Ristevski’s 24-year-old daughter Sarah will speak publicly for the first time about her mother’s brutal death at the hands of her father.
Sarah’s estranged family from her mother’s side said they will be watching the bombshell interview with bated breath.
‘I would imagine a lot of people will be watching, including the family,’ Karen’s aunt, Patricia Gray, told The Age.
Ms Ristevski’s 24-year-old daughter Sarah will speak publicly for the first time on Sunday night about her mother’s brutal death at the hands of her father (pictured: a preview for the 60 Minutes interview)
Borce Ristevski, 55, killed his wife Karen (left) at their home Avondale Heights, Melbourne, in June 2016, before dumping her body in a regional park. Pictured with their daughter Sarah, who was 21 at the time
Sarah has barely spoken to her mother’s side of the family since her father was charged in 2017.
In a preview for this week’s 60 Minutes, Sarah told reporter Liz Hayes that in the lead up to her father’s conviction, she asked him if he killed her mother.
‘I asked him if he had anything to do with it,’ she said, visibly emotional.
‘She’s on my mind all the time and I can’t get it out of my head.’
Karen’s aunt Patricia Gray (pictured) said the whole family will be tuning in for the bombshell interview on Sunday
Ristevski was jailed last April for at least six years after admitting to the manslaughter of his wife of 27 years.
Then in December, Karen’s family’s appeal was successful and Ristevski’s jail term was extended to 13 years, ten without the chance for parole.
Ristevski refused to say what he did to his wife before bundling her into a car and hiding her body at Macedon Regional Park, where it was found by hikers eight months later.
When her remains were found the cause of death could not be determined.
Borce Ristevski and his daughter Sarah before he was a suspect in 2016
In March last year, Ristevski shocked the nation when he admitted to killing his wife after he vehemently denied involvement in her death for almost three years.
He feigned innocence, lied to the police, the public and his daughter, and even carried his wife’s coffin at her funeral, until pleading guilty to manslaughter on the eve of his murder trial.
He has shown no remorse and refused to explain why or how he killed his wife, a dress shop owner.
Even though he killed her mother, Sarah has always stood by her father and visits him weekly in jail.
Police planted a bug in Ristevski’s car in the months after Karen went listening and heard Sarah ask her father about where he drove her mother’s car on the last say she was seen.
Ristevski told his daughter he had driven to by flavoured tobacco, but said he didn’t tell police in case it was illegal to purchase shisha.
Sarah then challenged her father and said his phone had pinged along the freeway, Ristevski responded: ‘That’s what they are trying to plant out there, Sarah.’
‘Well that doesn’t make sense,’ she replied.
Ristevski doubled down on his alibi, saying: ‘Nothing makes sense. They’re making it up as they go.’
Following his admission last March, Sarah gave her father a glowing character reference during a pre-sentence plea hearing at the Supreme Court of Victoria.
During her father’s trial she even refused to provide a victim impact statement and instead wrote a character reference for him.
Dress shop-owner Karen disappeared from the family home in Avondale Heights, north-west Melbourne, on June 29, 2016. Pictured with Borce and Sarah
Borce Ristevski (pictured) was a pallbearer at the funeral of his wife Karen in March 2017
‘If I could use a few words to describe my dad’s personality they would be loving, caring, sympathetic, protective and charismatic,’ Sarah said in the character reference.
‘Growing up as a family my mum, dad and I were completely inseparable.
‘We would spend all of our spare time together and family was everything to us. The love we had for each other was unexplainable, and everyone in our lives saw it.’
Sarah said she had never witnessed her father act violently towards her mother.
‘My dad has not had any prior convictions or issues with the law, and I can confidently say that in my 23 years and I have never witnessed any form of violence between my mum and dad,’ she said.
Ristevski’s first sentence was widely condemned when it was revealed the 55-year-old could have been out on parole by his 60th birthday
KAREN RISTEVSKI: HOW THE MYSTERY UNFOLDED
June 29, 2016
* Karen Ristevski last seen at her Melbourne home in Avondale Heights
* Her mobile phone pings off a tower in the Macedon Ranges
* A car similar to her black Mercedes SLK coupe spotted by CCTV cameras near Diggers Rest railway station
December 19, 2016
* Police search grassland, waterways, creeks and farms
February 20, 2017
* Karen Ristevski’s body found at Mount Macedon Regional Park
A hiker stumbled upon Karen’s body between two logs in the Mount Macedon National Park on February 20, 2017
March 6, 2017
* Funeral service held with husband Borce Ristevski a pallbearer, while daughter Sarah leads the procession
August 31, 2017
* Police recreate the journey of Ms Ristevski on the day she went missing in a black Mercedes, identical to hers
December 13, 2017
* Borce Ristevski charged with murder and faces court where a lawyer indicates a not-guilty plea. He is remanded in custody
April 18, 2018
* Ristevski returns to court where it’s revealed detectives tapped phone calls and planted listening devices as they investigated the alleged killing, compiling a 22,000-page evidence brief
* Ristevski is granted state-funded legal aid as he fights the allegations
Locked up: Borce Ristevski
March 12, 2019
* Prosecutors suffer a major setback.
A Supreme Court judge rules evidence about Ristevski’s conduct after Karen’s death could not be used as evidence of he had alleged ‘murderous intent’
March 13, 2019
* Ristevski’s charge is downgraded and he pleads guilty to Karen’s manslaughter death
April 18, 2019
* Ristevski is sentenced to a nine year jail term, with a six year non-parole period
May 13, 2019
* Prosecutors launch bid to increase Ristevski’s jail term, labeling his sentence ‘manifestly inadequate’.
The case heard by the Court of Appeal in November
Source: AAP, Daily Mail Australia