By Adam Cooper
Borce Ristevski has been committed to stand trial for murder over the death of his wife Karen and has formally pleaded not guilty.
In the Melbourne Magistrates Court on Thursday, magistrate Suzanne Cameron found there was sufficient evidence that a jury could convict the 54-year-old of murdering his wife on the morning of June 29, 2016.
Prosecutors allege Mr Ristevski intended to kill his wife of 27 years, and then drove her body in her black Mercedes-Benz to Mount Macedon Regional Park, where her remains were found eight months after her disappearance.
The cause of her death was not determined.
Mr Ristevski was charged with murder in December last year.
Towards the end of a nine-day committal hearing that finished last week, Mr Ristevski’s lawyers had conceded there was enough evidence for him to go to trial, but that it wasn’t of sufficient weight for him to appear before a jury on a murder charge.
They submitted that if Ms Cameron was to commit Mr Ristevski to trial, she should do so on the lesser charge of manslaughter. There was no evidence Mr Ristevski intended to kill his wife, they argued, and no history of threats or violence between the pair.
The accused man told police in the days after Ms Ristevski’s disappearance that he and his wife had argued that morning over the financial struggles surrounding their clothing business, Bella Bleu.
The business recorded losses of $326,000 between 2012 and 2016, the committal hearing was told, and the Ristevskis had a credit card debt of $82,000 on top of a $715,000 mortgage and other loans.
Borce and Karen Ristevski.
Prosecutors and police believe there is sufficient evidence for Mr Ristevski to be found guilty of murder.
The accused man’s conduct in the days after his wife disappeared formed the heart of their case against him.
Prosecutors allege the mobile phones of both Mr Ristevski and his wife pinged telephone towers near the Calder Freeway – which runs between the couple’s home and Mount Macedon – on the day Ms Ristevski disappeared, and that CCTV cameras captured her car being driven, despite Mr Ristevski’s claim to investigators his wife left the house on foot.
Prosecutors also highlighted inconsistencies in Mr Ristevski’s version of events to police in the days after his wife went missing, most notably that he didn’t tell them he drove the car that day until five days after she disappeared.
Mr Ristevski was remanded in custody to appear before the Supreme Court for a directions hearing next Monday, when a date will be set for his trial.
He remained impassive throughout Thursday’s short hearing and when asked to enter a plea, said in a steady voice: ‘‘Not guilty.’’
Ms Cameron said taking the prosecution case at its highest, it was possible that a jury could convict the accused man of murder.
She said prosecutors relied on ‘‘significant acts, utterances and omissions’’ allegedly made by Mr Ristevski in the days after his wife disappeared.
The prosecution case, she said, alleged Mr Ristevski intended to kill or cause really serious injury to his wife, concealed her death, disposed of her body, turned their phones off to avoid detection but later rang her mobile knowing she was dead, delayed reporting his wife missing until the next day, told lies about his movements and gave varying accounts to police of what he did that day and whether he used his wife’s car.
‘‘It could be open to a jury, properly instructed, that the accused caused the death of Karen Ristevski and at the time had murderous intent,’’ Ms Cameron said.
The magistrate also made mention of the statement of Ms Ristevski’s cousin, Lisa Gray, who told police that in March 2016, Ms Ristevski said to her she preferred her husband slept on the couch.
That statement, prosecutor Matt Fisher previously said, was a sign ‘‘all was not completely harmonious’’ between the husband and wife.