Borce Ristevski will spend at least six years behind bars for killing his wife Karen Ristevski.
Justice Christopher Beale sentenced Ristevski, 55, to a maximum of nine years in the Supreme Court in Melbourne on Thursday.
Their daughter Sarah Ristevski was among the family and friends in court for the sentence.
Ristevski has not told police how or why he killed his 47-year-old wife in their Avondale Heights home on June 29, 2016.
Justice Beale said Ristevski’s conduct after killing Karen, including dumping her body, the web of deceit he spun and carrying her coffin at her funeral, was a significant aggravation.
“You have finally accepted responsibility for killing Karen [but] you have not revealed how or why you have killed your wife,” Justice Beale said.
“You have not taken the high road of full and frank disclosure consistent with true remorse.”
Justice Beale said the possibility of closure for her family was complicated, if not cruelled, as they will never know how Karen died.
Justice Beale said their daughter, Sarah Ristevski, was the principle victim after Karen. He said out of love, Sarah did not submit a victim impact statement and instead provided a character reference for her father.
“I mean no criticism of Sarah – anyone with a modicum of compassion would understand her predicament is an agonising one,” Justice Beale said.
Police believe Ristevski killed his wife between 8.58am and 10.43am on the day she went missing and drove her body in her Mercedes-Benz to Mount Macedon, more than 50 kilometres away, and dumped her remains between two logs.
Karen’s remains were not found until a bushwalker stumbled upon her shallow grave in Macedon Regional Park on February 20, 2017, eight months after she went missing.
They believe the couple argued about the financial plight of their clothing business, Bella Bleu, beforehand.
Their daughter, Sarah Ristevski, has stood by her father even after he admitted killing her mother. In a glowing character reference she wrote for her father five days after he pleaded guilty she said he was a “good dad and husband”.
Tammy Mills and Adam Cooper- The Age
