tmar
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Borce Ristevski warned daughter not to trust police
Tammy Mills
11 hrs ago
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It was exactly this conduct that chief crown prosecutor Brendan Kissane, QC, and barrister Matt Fisher said was of "such an extreme nature, extent and duration" that could be inferred Ristevski did intend to murder Karen.
If Ristevski did unintentionally kill her, prosecutors argued, he would have raised the alarm and "not bundle her into the boot, drive to a remote area, conceal the body and lie about the circumstances of his wife's disappearance to family, friends and investigators".
But Justice Beale said he found "much force" in the submission from Ristevski's legal team – David Hallowes, SC, and Sam Norton – that he feared killing his wife would attract a substantial prison term and cause "irreparable damage to his relationship with his daughter, with whom he was close".
Financial stress was a key piece of evidence against Ristevski. But it did not prove motive to murder, prosecutors conceded, though it could have fuelled an argument between the couple on the morning she was killed.
Ristevski's Taylors Lakes fashion boutique Bella Bleu recorded losses of more than $300,000 in four years. They also had credit card debt and a $715,000 mortgage on their Avondale Heights home.
But Ristevski's lawyers said the couple's financial situation would actually get worse with Karen's death.
"She was in effect the heartbeat of the Bella Bleu clothing business ... Her importance to that business was a motive for the accused not to kill her," the court documents read.
There was also no evidence of a physical fight, with no witnesses hearing yelling on the morning Karen was killed.
The couple had been married for more than 20 years and Ristevski had no history of physical violence, the court was told.
Both defence and prosecution used another notorious case, that of Gerard Baden-Clay, in their arguments.
Allison Baden-Clay's body was found on a creek bank in Brisbane's west 10 days after she was reported missing in 2012. Her husband was found guilty of her murder.
Ristevski's lawyers argued the lack of evidence of motive, physical altercation or any ascertainable cause of death distinguished his case from Baden-Clay. Baden-Clay had been having an affair and also had scratches on his face, which suggested a physical struggle with his wife.
Other than Ristevski's conduct after he killed his wife, there was no other evidence of murderous intent, and no jury could rationally exclude manslaughter, his lawyers argued.
Prosecutors said it was for a jury to decide whether Ristevski's behaviour afterwards meant he had murdered Karen, not for a trial judge to interfere with a jury's role to decide the facts.
Ristevski's behaviour afterwards, his lawyers said, was consistent with a panicked reaction.
On the morning on June 29, Ristevski did not switch off his phone until 11.09am, 26 minutes after he had been driving his wife's car and he did not switch of her phone until 11.40am.
"Further, there was photographic evidence of a couple of shovels left in the garage, which did not appear to have been used in any effort to bury Karen Ristevski," his lawyers submitted.
Ristevski faces a plea hearing next week.
He wasn't fooling anyone....
