Gordon Steven Ivankovic killed elderly mum after fight over clogged roof gutters

After suffocating his mother in a spontaneous outburst of violence, Gordon Steven Ivankovic left multiple voicemails on her answering machine in a feeble attempt to throw police off his trail.

Gordon Steven Ivankovic suffocated his mother Maria Ivankovic in a spontaneous outburst of violence in June 2023.

A man fled interstate and adopted multiple false identities after killing his elderly mother following an argument over clogged roof gutters, a court has heard.

In the space of just 16 minutes, Gordon Steven Ivankovic entered the Maribyrnong home of his 81-year-old mother Marija Ivankovic and suffocated her in a spontaneous outburst of violence just after midday on June 12, 2023.

The Supreme Court of Victoria on Monday heard Ivankovic, 57, had given multiple accounts of the fatal attack for which he initially feigned ignorance.

Ivankovic recently reported he shoved his mother after she asked him to clean her roof gutters and that he found her unresponsive on the kitchen floor when he returned after briefly leaving for the bungalow.

However, the confessed killer also agreed he grabbed his mother, smothering her face and constricting her airways to the point of incapacitation.

In the days after her death, Ivankovic left multiple voicemails on his mother’s answering machine and returned to the crime scene where he pretended not to know the truth of his mother’s demise.

“Can someone tell me what’s going on? Is my mum okay?” Ivankovic asked police guarding Marija’s home.

The court heard the man fled to Sydney then Brisbane under the false name Steven Gordon and took out a bank card in the name of John Kovic, before returning to Melbourne where he was arrested and charged with murder 11 days later.

Marija’s lifeless body was found by friends when they arrived at her home about 5.30pm on June 12 to play cards.

Earlier that day she’d spoken on the phone to a friend about what to serve her son for lunch.

He fled the home without his backpack containing a notebook with the handwritten message: “To know a killer is to have killed yourself”.

Ivankovic is set to spend at least five years in jail for the crime with a maximum of eight years after accepting a sentence indication for the lesser charge of manslaughter in November.

Janine Staples told the court her mother’s sudden and violent death had caused her “unimaginable pain and grief”.

“The knowledge of her life being taken so violently has left me feeling helpless and deeply shaken,” Ms Staples said.

“She was not only my mother but my confidant, my support system and greatest source of love and guidance.”

Ivankovic has prior convictions for violence and a long history of drug abuse.

The court heard he is remorseful for killing his mother and panicked after he was unable to revive her.

He will be sentenced by Judge Jane Dixon at a later date.