Borce Ristevski’s court appearance offers no answers to mystery
BORCE Ristevski sat composed but haggard through his first court hearing. But those who assume the murder trial will solve the mysteries of Karen Ristevksi’s death may be disappointed.
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THE cops said nothing. The lawyer didn’t say much. The defendant sat in jeans and a pale T-shirt, composed but haggard, as many people would be if they receive a knock on the door at 7.20am to be charged with murder.
There was an air of inevitability in the crowds at the Melbourne Magistrates’ Court, where the media gathered like seagulls in the sun. They treated each emerging participant in the murder case of Borce Ristevski like chips tossed from above.
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HOW THE KAREN RISTEVSKI CASE GRIPPED AUSTRALIA
TAKE A LOOK AT WHAT BORCE WILL FACE BEHIND BARS
Inside, none of the family members who have offered to fill the information gaps in the mystery of Karen Ristevksi’s disappearance over the past 18 months were present.
No children of the deceased. No brothers of the accused.
Instead, Borce Ristevski faced remand — and prosecution — alone.
There were no histrionics, or mutters or shouts or shakes of the head. He stared briefly at the media gallery — journalists from organisations that have staked out his home for days and weeks at a time — but offered few clues to his thinking.
It’s been 532 days since Karen Ristevski, an Avondale Heights boutique owner, disappeared, and 296 days since her remains were discovered.
She was farewelled in March in Essendon, where her husband — a pallbearer — accepted hugs and condolences.
Karen Ristevksi was remembered as a sensitive, generous and kind person described by her friend, actor Samuel Johnson.
Otherwise, she has lived in the public imagination as a murder mystery, not for who she was but for all the theories about how she might have died.
It will be another 126 days before the next court procedure in a case that might run years. There were few clues to its nature or content, except a declaration from lawyer Rob Stary that his client intended to plead not guilty.
It follows an intensely scrutinised police investigation
Observers who assume the murder trial will solve the mysteries of Karen Ristevksi’s death may be disappointed.
Justice is blind, after all, as the trial of Lindy Chamberlain, or the more recent murder case against Tasmania’s Sue Neill-Fraser, show.
It is also slow. The pursuit of justice, and the search for answers, do not always go hand-in-hand.