At the Taylors Lakes store, staff member Amanda Elrabat, 24, says fashion was Ms Ristevski’s passion. The up-market boutique *caters for a wide range of ages and styles, including cocktail and formal wear. In June, it promoted a 50 per cent off clearance sale for selected items.
Speculation of foul play was unfair and the husband, Ms *Elrabat insists, would not have done anything to harm her.
“The shop is everything to her. She is an amazing boss: generous, caring, loving. She treated us (staff) like we were daughters,” she tells The Weekend Australian.
Ms Elrabat, who has worked at the store for four years, got to know Mr Ristevski and daughter Sarah and has hit out at what she claims is misinformation in the media, saying the Ristevskis were close: “She was happy and really bubbly with customers. She had her regulars that always come in, she treated them like friends.”
Mr Ristevski was strongly supportive of his wife, she says, and was always showing an interest in her clothing designs and helping out in the store. “He is an amazing person and he was always in here with her and helping her, even on quiet days,’’ she says.
Ms Elrabat adds that there was no sign Ms Ristevski was distressed or had depression. “Everyone has bad days but not like that,” she says.
