Martin Dukagjini pleads not guilty to Tatiana Sokoloff murder
Thirty three years ago Tatiana Sokoloff’s elderly mother found her daughter’s beaten and naked body. On Monday her alleged murderer’s case was heard in court.
Inner West
Don't miss out on the headlines from Inner West. Followed categories will be added to My News.
A man has formally denied murdering a woman 33 years ago.
Martin Dukagjini is accused of killing Tatiana Sokoloff at her inner west home back in 1986.
The 63-year-old’s case was heard in Central Sydney Local Court on Monday morning and his legal representative entered a not guilty plea on his behalf.
“Mr Dukagjini wishes to make that clear,” lawyer Bryan Wrench told Sydney’s Central Local Court on Monday.
Dukagjini, who did not appear before the court during the brief hearing, made no application for bail.
It is 33 years since her body was discovered by her deaf mother on the back veranda of their Haberfield home.
He is the first person to be charged over the gruesome murder.
A Coronial inquest in 1987 found she died from head injuries and strangulation, with police claiming she had been “badly bashed” with a piece of wood and strangled with a length of chord.
Cold-case detectives who re-examined items found at the scene allegedly found a DNA profile and then asked Victorian police to arrest Dukagjini.
He was extradited to Sydney on Friday, a day after being taken into custody in a car park near his home in the Melbourne suburb of Kealba.
He faced Melbourne Magistrates Court before he was extradited to NSW.
He will appear before Central Sydney Local Court in February.