Beauty therapist Daniella Gourdeas fails to reclaim cash from Bali victim Zivan Radmanovic
New details have emerged about Zivan Radmanovic before he was brutally murdered in Bali, and a beauty therapist who survived the ambush who has tried to reclaim thousands in cash.
The sister-in-law of an Australian man murdered in Bali has made a bold bid to claim a wad of cash police seized from him before his death.
It can be revealed that beauty therapist Daniella Gourdeas, who escaped the brutal ambush in June during which Zivan Radmanovic was executed by hit men, has testified in court that thousands of dollars seized from him was a loan from her.
Radmanovic, 32, was arrested by Victoria Police on May 29 this year at Ms Gourdeas’ home after a police helicopter tracked him to the property.
He had been detected riding a motorcycle at speeds of up to 240km/h in Melbourne’s outer west before officers were dispatched.
During a search of his belongings, officers allegedly found Radmanovic in the possession of $16,400 in cash, including two bundles of $5000 and another of $2500 tucked into a “discreet internal pocket” of his Italian motorcycle jacket.
Police also allege they discovered a further $3900, 1.5g of meth and a pocket knife in his bum bag, while 450g of cannabis was found in a backpack.
The money was restrained under proceeds of crime laws.
But on September 12, Ms Gourdeas fronted the Melbourne Magistrates’ Court in a bid to convince a magistrate the money was a loan and should be returned to her.
During the court hearing, Ms Gourdeas, who owns Aesthetica Cosmetic Clinic in Toorak, was supported by her sister, Jazmyn Gourdeas, the widow of Radmanovic.
Ms Gourdeas testified that she loaned money to Radmanovic because he was short on his rent and needed to pay for flights and accommodation for a Bali holiday.
Radmanovic, his wife Jazmyn and her sister Daniella flew out of Melbourne for the fateful Bali trip on June 12.
“I knew how much the tickets were and accommodation … so I knew how much to give,” she told the court.
She agreed with her lawyer that their loaning arrangements were always casual.
“When he had and got a job, he would just give a little bit to me,” she said.
“They’re my family.”
While she was not “100 per cent” sure, Ms Gourdeas said she believed she handed her brother-in-law one wad in a “cash-up bag or envelope” and then two bundles held together with elastic bands.
She said the cash was the earnings of her skin care salon, which was later firebombed in the weeks after she returned from Bali, and was secured in a safe at her house.
When asked by a police prosecutor if she had certain receipts to prove these earnings, Ms Gourdeas replied that they had been destroyed in the fire.
“Two weeks after returning to Melbourne, my business got burnt down and I lost everything, so it’s not just these receipts. I lost a lot of documentation that’s very important to me and that’s just the nature of what has happened,” she said.
“Never did I think something like this would happen.”
But Magistrate Michael Smith was not convinced the seized cash was not the proceeds of crime and ordered forfeiture.
“I can’t be satisfied that … the witness has a proper claim to the funds,” he said.
Radmanovic, from Melbourne, was facing drugs and traffic offences as a result of the bust before his shooting murder.
The charges included the offence of reckless conduct endangering life.
It can also be revealed that Radmanovic was on bail when he was killed.
After Radmanovic and his wife arrived in Bali with Daniella, they stayed with her partner, Melbourne crime figure Sanar Ghanim.
Just after midnight on June 14, the two couples were attacked by gunmen who bashed their way into the newly built Villa Casa that Santisya Ghanim was leasing – located in Munggu.
Radmanovic was tortured and shot by the hit men, while Ghanim survived being shot six times.
Both Gourdeas sisters were physically unharmed.
Since the Bali ambush, Radmanovic’s body has been repatriated to Australia and Ghanim has gone into hiding.
Sources have told this masthead the attack is suspected to have been payback over a dispute Ghanim was embroiled in with Melbourne organised crime figures.
Three Australians – Darcy Francesco Jenson, 27, Mevlut Coskun, 22, and Paea-I-Middlemore Tupou, 26 – were arrested over the deadly ambush and are being held at Bali’s Kerobokan prison.
Investigations continue into what motivated the crime as the trio await a court date to be formally charged.
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Originally published as Beauty therapist Daniella Gourdeas fails to reclaim cash from Bali victim Zivan Radmanovic
