Wife killer Zoran Pandilovski jailed for 17 years for murdering his childhood sweetheart Elaine

Wife killer Zoran Pandilovski, who strangled his childhood sweetheart to death before taking “trophy photos” of her dead body, will spend at least 17 years behind bars.

Zoran Pandilovski murdered his wife Elaine in July 2020.

Wife killer Zoran Pandilovski has been jailed for at least 17 years for murdering his childhood sweetheart Elaine after a marriage marred by his violence, drunkenness and repeated infidelity.

The 48-year-old hung his head in his hand as he was jailed for a maximum 24 years with a minimum 17 years for killing his son’s mother in her Mill Park home on July 14, 2020.

With time already served, he could be out of jail by 2037, when he’s 62 years old.

Pandilovski stared forward as his sentence was handed down in the Supreme Court on Wednesday, grabbing a tissue to wipe his nose as he was escorted away and into handcuffs.

Outside court, Elaine’s mum Kathy Dafopoulos said “he deserves what he’s got”.

“I wish it was life in jail but it would never happen,” she said.

“I’m going to move on with my grandson and my family and look after everyone.”

Elaine’s aunty Mary Yoannidis, holding a photo of her niece who was a teacher’s aide, said their family could finally “lay her to rest and let her son move on with his life”.

“No matter what they gave him would make it any different because she’s not here and he still is,” she said.

Her best friend Carolyn Stamp said one woman a week was being murdered by her current or former partner and “nothing has been done”.

Elaine Pandilovski was found dead in her Mill Park home.

“Where’s the outrage from our politicians?” she asked.

“We need the justice system to stop men killing women.”

In handing down his sentence, Justice Christopher Beale said while he accepted Pandilovski didn’t go to his estranged wife’s house with the intention to kill, instead picking up their son’s iPad to fix, “the murder did not happen out of the blue”.

His Honour noted Pandilovski’s extra marital affairs against the woman he’d been in a relationship with since high school, his criminal prior for smashing a car she was sitting in with her sister, and a report of violence to police just eight months before the murder.

Pandilovski was seen on CCTV entering the home that morning, where police later found signs of a struggle in the lounge room.

“The way she died would have been terrifying,” His Honour said, noting the 44-year-old suffered compression to the neck that occurred over “tens of seconds”.

Zoran Pandilovski has been jailed for at least 17 years for murdering his wife. Picture: Aaron Francis

Pandilovski then hid her body in the basement where he took two photos of her on her phone, described by prosecutors as “trophy photos”.

“I can’t remember taking the photos, I have to have done it, the state of mind I was in, I was not there (mentally),” he later said.

The killer drove from the crime scene, attempting to take his life in a car crash that Justice Beale said was lucky didn’t kill anyone, then threatened to harm himself with scissors in hospital.

The court heard he’d told a psychologist he couldn’t “believe the trauma I have caused so many people”.

“I sit there every day in my cell and think of the impact on everyone, it’s overwhelming.”

Pandilovski’s son has ceased all communication with him, with Justice Beale stating that “only you are to blame” for the loss of their relationship.

Finding he had reasonable prospects of rehabilitation, Pandilovski’s sentence was discounted for his guilty plea to murder following an earlier offer to plead to manslaughter, his remorse, the harsh prison conditions during the pandemic, and delays in the case.

He will be eligible for parole in July, 2037.

Had he not pleaded guilty, he would have been jailed for 26 years, with a minimum of 18 years and six months.