Wife killer Zoran Pandilovski took photos of the body of his childhood sweetheart after strangling her to death

Wife killer Zoran Pandilovski strangled his childhood sweetheart to death before hiding her in the basement of her Mill Park home. Then, he photographed her lifeless body.

Elaine Pandilovski was strangled to death in her Mill Park home.

Wife killer Zoran Pandilovski took photos of the body of his childhood sweetheart Elaine in an “inexplicable” act after strangling her to death, as her heartbroken mother declared: “You are evil”.

Elaine Pandilovski, 44, went to police asking for help over her husband’s violence just eight months before he murdered her at their Mill Park home on July 14, 2020.

The couple had been estranged for 20-months, with Pandilovski holding unfounded hopes that they could reconcile as he picked up their son’s iPad for repair that morning.

He pleaded guilty to her murder in April at the beginning of his trial, after his earlier plea to the lesser charge of manslaughter was rejected by the prosecution.

A pre-sentencing hearing in the Supreme Court on Friday was told of Pandilovski’s history of violence towards his wife, which included a conviction for smashing up a car while she and her sister Jody were inside.

Family of Elaine Pandilovski outside the Supreme Court on Friday. Picture: Luis Enrique Ascui

Family and friends of the much-loved teacher’s aid told the court of their heartache at losing her, with Elaine’s mother telling her killer “she was too good for you”.

Grandmother Kathy Dafopoulos said their teenage son “doesn’t deserve not having her here”.

“Why have you ruined (his) life?” she asked in a victim impact statement read to the court.

“You are evil and I hate what you have done to all of us ...”

Pandilovski, 48, claimed that after strangling Elaine to death, he hid her body in the basement storage room amid fears their son would find her when he arrived home.

Police later discovered two photos of Elaine’s body on her own phone, taken “in situ” by Pandilovski in the basement.

Defence barrister David Hallowes SC said the images were “obviously something that gives him no credit”.

“It’s one of those matters that’s a little bit inexplicable,” he told judge Justice Christopher Beale.

But he said the court should not make a finding that it was “somehow a trophy photo that was being taken”.

Pandilovski had a history of violence towards his former wife.

Mr Hallowes agreed that Pandilovski did not try to call police and did not tell hospital staff about his wife’s death when he was later involved in a car crash upon fleeing the scene.

Elaine’s body, with Pandilovski’s DNA under her fingernails, was found by police only after concerned loved ones raised the alarm that she hadn’t attended work at Plenty Park Primary School.

Even though he did not tell anyone what he had done, the defence barrister said Pandilovski “didn’t try to get away with it”.

“This is not a Ristevski type of situation,” Mr Hallowes said, referring to Borce Ristevski who killed his wife Karen and hid her body in the bush in 2016.

“He went there to pick up the iPad of his son ... something happens and he loses control and commits the despicable crime he does.”

Mr Hallowes noted that through his actions, Pandilovski had lost his relationship with his son, who had effectively become orphaned by his mother’s murder and his father’s incarceration.

“He doesn’t want to see him and is unlikely to want to see him probably ever again,” Mr Hallowes said of his son as Pandilovski sat in the back of the courtroom with his head bowed.

Elaine had taken an intervention order out against her estranged husband eight months before he murdered her.

The court heard that Elaine had sought help from local police in November 2019 over her husband’s violence towards her.

She’d told her mother that Pandilovski had sought to get back together but she “refused him and had no intention of reconciling”.

Elaine’s aunt, Mary Yoannidis, said when she received a call that her niece was missing she “knew he had done something to her”.

“There was no doubt in my mind it was at his hands,” Ms Yoannidis said.

Elaine’s best friend Carolyn Stamp said she found it difficult “to comprehend how a person who claims to love his son could kill his mother”.

Prosecutors believe Elaine was killed in the dining or lounge room, where police found signs of a struggle.

Pandilovski’s red cap, seen on CCTV when he entered the property, was found under a couch and Elaine’s gold earrings, forced from her ears, were discovered on the dining room floor and tangled in her hair.

Scratches were found on his arms, while it was believed he left footprints on Elaine’s jeans and the floorboards of the home.

Crown prosecutor Neill Hutton accepted that Pandilovski had shown some remorse and had “reasonable” prospects of rehabilitation.

But he noted that Elaine died from a “slow and deliberate method that takes tens of seconds to complete” and that the violence was “not a one-off occasion”.

“It’s not out of the blue,” he said.

Pandilovski will return to court to be sentenced on August 11.