Kristian Kovaleff pleads guilty to murder of girl at Meriton Parramatta apartments

A calculated killer went to Bunnings the day he knifed a teenage girl at a Parramatta apartment tower and bought a saw — in case her body failed to fit in the boot of his BMW and needed to be chopped up.

Murderer Kristian Kovaleff plotted to fatally stab a 17-year-old girl before leaving her slain body in the bedroom of the Meriton Apartments at Parramatta and casually telling her friend he wanted to “chill out’’ instead of call an ambulance.

The girl died from multiple stab wounds after he burst into the bathroom of the apartment she and a friend had rented for the night of Friday, December 18, 2020 when they planned to celebrate her 18th birthday two days early.

He also left the victim’s friend in a critical condition after he knifed her during the terrifying night a week before Christmas.

Court papers reveal disturbing facts into Kovaleff’s mindset.

He told the girl who survived his knifing he had “always been sick in the head and wanted to kill someone” — including her on more than 10 occasions.

Instead, he targeted the other girl, who cannot be named for legal reasons.

Over the two days leading up to the fatality, the Guildford killer’s online searches included “tools that can be used as weapons”.

On the day of the brutal attack, he went to Bunnings Villawood twice and bought duct tape, rope and a handsaw.

Because the girls were under 18, Kovaleff, who was then 19, signed them into room 111 of the apartment tower after he collected them from a train station following a day they spent at their high school barbecue.

Once inside the apartment he hid a Survivor-brand knife under the couch.

Shortly before 8pm, he went to grab his swimmers from the boot of his silver BMW with the girl who survived and she noticed a large black bag with a saw that he bought from Bunnings that afternoon.

“The offender subsequently admitted that he purchased the saw in case the body didn’t fit in the boot and he needed to chop it up,’’ court papers reveal.

The victims were left to suffer for two hours in the Meriton tower before an ambulance was called. Picture: Julian Andrews

When the two girls were getting ready to go for a swim at the Meriton pool and the victim was applying fake eyelashes in the bathroom, they noticed Kovaleff acting unusually, standing at the door watching them.

At 8.40pm, when the victim was by herself in the room, he began the horrific stabbing spree with the knife he hid under the couch.

Initially thinking her friend was being tickled or laughing, the survivor quickly knew something was wrong.

“After a few seconds she thought to herself ‘he’s killing her’ and got up and went to the bathroom,’’ court papers reveal.

“She saw the offender stab the deceased forcefully and repeatedly to her stomach as she stood with her back against the sink.’’

Despite her pleas for him to stop, he soon directed the two girls into the bedroom. They complied and he continued stabbing the girl against the wall.

Soon Kovaleff attacked her friend when she was guarding the bedroom door. When she refused to let him return to the bedroom, he stabbed her in the stomach.

Her attempts to call emergency services failed and Kovaleff grabbed the phone off her.

As the murder victim lay dying on the floor staring at the roof and gasping, Kovaleff asked her for her phone passcode.

When he realised the other girl had been stabbed, he did not listen to her request to call an ambulance but asked her to go to the lounge room where he apologised for wounding her.

He paced up the room while still wielding the knife and said “I’m gunna (sic) get 25 years”.

“I’m gunna get a lifetime in prison. I knew if I did this, I’d regret it.’’

He said he would not do it again but still refused to call an ambulance while the victim was left in the bedroom fighting for her life.

“You know I can’t do that yet, not yet,’’ he told the other girl.

“I will call you an ambulance and you will survive, but not yet, not yet, I just want to chill out with you for a bit.”

Kovaleff said he was “sick in the head”.

The surviving girl felt dizzy and lost consciousness. When she awoke, her stomach was wrapped in duct tape that she had seen stuffed in Kovaleff’s bum bag, along with the rope.

His confessions continued.

“I’m a monster, I just killed your friend,’’ he said.

He knelt down, put the knife to his neck and asked the survivor: “Should I do it?’’

He checked on the victim in the bedroom and said she “was stone cold dead’’ and “I literally just murdered someone’’ and “I’ve killed an innocent person.’’

The survivor vomited but Kovaleff continued on a bizarre rant instead of seeking help.

He started singing I’m a Bomb and “I’m about to blow up” and flicked on jazz on the TV before telling the survivor he would move the victim to the bathroom.

When she refused, he brought out bedding to the lounge room and cleaned some of the blood in the kitchen using a bed sheet and put the knife in the dishwasher before laying down near the couch next to the survivor, who began vomiting blood.

The killer donned her trackpants and jacket to conceal the blood stains on his body and clothing.

Just before 10.30pm, he called his dad using the survivor’s phone and told him he had just stabbed two people and whether he should “try and make a run for it”.

Finally, when his father said he would only be caught, Kovaleff called triple-0 at 10.36pm, two hours after the frenzied attack.

He grabbed the girls’ phones and fielded a call from the ambulance after the first call was cut prematurely short.

He fled to the westbound McDonald’s at Eastern Creek where his dad’s friend was waiting for him to be collected and taken to his Minchinbury home.

On the way there he called a mate and said he “f***ed up’’.

Meanwhile, the surviving girl — who still had duct tape on her stomach and blood on her feet, hands and mouth — fled the room and sought help from nearby occupants and in the lobby downstairs.

Police and paramedics arrived at 10.45pm and found the victim unconscious without a pulse “and cold to the touch” with wounds to her stomach, left thigh and back.

She was rushed to Westmead Hospital but was pronounced dead at 11.43pm.

A post mortem declared multiple wounds caused death, with lack of medical attention and blood loss contributing factors.

The other girl underwent surgery and was transferred to the ICU during her eight days in hospital.

At 2.45am on December 19, Kovaleff turned himself in at Parramatta police station. He had no drugs or alcohol in his system.

His car was found in the McDonald’s carpark and cops seized a bag containing four packets of rope, a lubricant tube, screwdriver, duct tape, a roll of garbage bags and $4 in change.

A search of his home at Excelsior St, Guildford, also uncovered a receipt from Bunnings the day of the murder.

He was charged with murder and wound with intent to cause grievous bodily harm.

Kovaleff pleaded guilty on March 31 and will face sentencing at the Supreme Court on May 6.

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