Neighbours of a businessman accused of killing his wife and leaving her body to rot for eight months heard ‘yelling and screaming’ from their house, a court heard today.
Borce Ristevski, 54, allegedly killed Karen Ristevski at the couple’s Avondale Heights home in June 2016 and dumped her body in the bush.
He is now facing a committal hearing in Melbourne Magistrates Court to determine if there is enough evidence to send him to trial for murder.
Karen Ristevski’s (pictured with daughter Sarah and husband Borce) death could have been caused by either blunt force trauma or strangulation
Nine days after Mrs Ristevski went missing, a neighbour told police they heard a loud argument coming from the home before she vanished, Detective Sergeant Graeme Hamilton told the court.
Hamilton did not suspect Mr Ristevski at that time but interviewed him anyway, reported news.com.
He told the court: ‘When I spoke to Borce that afternoon, I wanted to cover off in my own mind, whether there were any arguments that may have caused (Mrs Ristevski) to leave or whether there was anyone else in the relationship.
The detective asked him: ‘Borce, is there something you want to tell me? Good people make mistakes. Has something happened?’
The court later heard how, in the year leading up to her death, Mrs Ristevski’s Melbourne dress shop was in a ‘constant struggle’ financially.
And only days after Ms Ristevski vanished, a new company directed by Borce Ristevski had begun operating, receiving the revenue of the fashion store Bella Bleu.
Ms Ristevski (pictured, left, with Borce, centre, and daughter Sarah, right) went missing from the couple’s Avondale Heights home in Melbourne’s northwest in June 2016
Borce Ristevski (centre right) the husband of missing Melbourne woman Karen Ristevski and their daughter Sarah pictured at a press conference in 2016
The couple were directors of a fashion boutique and at the time of the alleged murder the business appeared to be floundering.
‘There was a constant struggle with sales revenue not able to meet business expenses,’ Victoria Police forensic accountant Gerard Curtin told Melbourne Magistrates Court on Wednesday.
‘If you can’t cover your rent, wages and stock you’re not going to be surviving and this business wasn’t covering that.’
Karen Ristevski’s (pictured with daughter Sarah) could have died from head injury, Professor Cordner said
Mr Curtin said a company called Warrant Brands, of which the Ristevskis were directors, had traded as the fashion store Bella Bleu.
But as of July 1, 2016 a new company called Envirovision, directed by Mr Ristevski with daughter Sarah as shareholder, had evolved.
‘All the revenue from Bella Bleu was going into this company,’ Mr Curtin said.
‘As at June 30, Warrant Brands no longer has any income.
‘I’ve got absolutely no idea why that would’ve occurred. It has no real impact on the liabilities of Warrant Brands.’
Karen and Borce Ristevski had sometimes argued about money, the court has been told.
But Sarah Ristevski gave evidence that her parents rarely fought and her father was ‘never’ aggressive towards her mother.
Prosecutors have previously said the Ristevskis were in a ‘very serious’ financial predicament at the time.
Ms Ristevski’s body was found between two logs at Macedon Regional Park northwest of Melbourne about eight months after she vanished.
An autopsy could not ascertain a cause of death.
Ristevski was charged nearly a year later after a police investigation that involved phone taps, listening devices and CCTV footage analysis.
Detective say he used his wife’s Mercedes-Benz roadster to dispose of her body, and CCTV footage allegedly captured the car on the day.
SES volunteers search around Lock Rd in Mt Macedon, near Melbourne, Thursday, July 13, 2017
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