Family of slain toddler Imran Zilic horrified at killer father’s application to visit victim’s grave

A mentally ill father who slit his toddler son’s throat before dumping his body down a mineshaft near Coober Pedy wants a court’s permission to visit his son’s grave.

Aliya Zilic (right) was found not guilty of the April 2008 murder of his three-year-old son Imran (left), by reason of mental incompetence.

A father who slit his toddler son’s throat before dumping his body in a disused mineshaft, has asked a court to allow him to travel interstate and visit his son’s grave.

Aliya Zilic was found not guilty of the April 2008 murder of his three-year-old son Imran – whose body was recovered from a disused drill hole south of Coober Pedy – by reason of mental incompetence and placed on indefinite mental health supervision.

Last year, he sought full discharge from Ashton House, a step down facility for forensic mental health patients, where Zilic had been living since moving to the facility from the more secure facility James Nash House.

On Wednesday, Zilic – who had taken his son from Perth before killing him – asked the court to allow him to travel interstate to visit his elderly mother in Western Australia and his son’s grave.

The application was “strenuously opposed” by Imran’s extended family, who remain living in WA.

The court heard the family visited the cemetery where Imran was buried alongside his mother – who took her own life “in grief” about 14 months after her son was killed – up to three times per week.

Counsel for Imran’s family said his death had caused the extended, close-knit family, ongoing grief.

The toddler’s body was recovered from a disused drill hole south of Coober Pedy. Picture: Dylan Coker

“While it has been 16 years, my clients wake up daily to the memory of what went on in 2008 and that is what they live with on a constant basis,” his counsel said.

“The thought of Zilic returning to WA and visiting Imran’s grave has caused them great distress.”

The family were not opposed to Zilic visiting his father in Victoria.

Trish Johnson, for Zilic, told the court her client “regrets his own behaviour as much as anybody else”.

“He has to live with what he did. I just need to make that comment because it’s also a great cause of distress for him, what he did, but he was held not responsible,” she said.

She said her client had been “at pains” to comply with every condition imposed on him thus far and would also comply with any conditions sought on his travel interstate, including any exclusion zones or restrictions on visiting days.

“He is not trying to ask for more than what (the extended family) would be comfortable with if the application was allowed,” Ms Johnson said.

During the 2009 Supreme Court trial, the court heard Zilic had schizophrenia, a history of psychosis and believed his wife was possessed by demons.

He believed his son was the “devil’s helper” when he slit his throat with a steak knife.

Justice Judy Hughes said she would deliver a decision on the application within a fortnight.