Borce Ristevski sentenced to nine years for manslaughter of his wife Karen

Karen Ristevski's family say justice has been denied after her husband was jailed for her killing.

Borce Ristevski hasn’t revealed how or why he killed his wife of nearly three decades and spun a “web of lies” about her disappearance, but could walk from jail in four-and-a-half years.

The Melbourne man was imprisoned for nine years on Thursday for the high-profile manslaughter of Karen Ristevski in 2016.

Ristevski, 55, must spend six years behind bars before being eligible for parole and, with time already served, could walk in December 2023.

The sentence was condemned by Karen’s brother Steve Williams. “Nothing is going to bring Karen back, but today was about justice and we didn’t get justice today at all,” he told reporters outside the Supreme Court of Victoria.

Ristevski killed Karen before dumping her body in Victorian bushland and spinning a “web of lies”.

The 47-year-old was found eight months after she went missing in 2016, with Ristevski lying to his wife’s family and taking part at her funeral as a pallbearer, playing the part of an “innocent, grieving widower”.

He killed his wife. The mother of his child. Dumped her body. Lied to family and police. Carried her coffin. Admitted to manslaughter. Won’t say how or why he killed Karen. No answers. But with time already served, Borce Ristevski could be a free man in under 5 years. @9NewsMelb

— Eliza Rugg (@Eliza_Rugg9) April 18, 2019

Justice Christopher Beale said he didn’t have enough information to determine the severity of Ristevski’s crime.

“Without knowing the level and duration of the violence perpetrated by you which caused your wife’s death, I simply cannot say whether your offending was mid or upper range,” he said.

Justice Beale said no sentence could undo the suffering of those who loved Ms Ristevski, condemning Ristevski’s “rank deceit” and the lies he told police, friends and family, including the daughter who stood by him even after his guilty plea.

“You have not revealed how or why you killed your wife,” he said. “You may have turned off the road of deceit but you have not taken the high road of full and frank disclosure consistent with true remorse.

“In the days, indeed months and years, that followed you continued spinning your web of lies.” Ristevski acted as pallbearer at his wife’s funeral, “playing the part of the innocent, grieving widower”.

On June 29, 2016, Ristevski killed 47-year-old Karen at their Avondale Heights home before bundling her body into her Mercedes-Benz and driving to Macedon Regional Park, hiding his wife under logs, sticks and foliage. The couple had been married for 27 years.

That evening, Ristevski told 21-year-old daughter Sarah the pair had an argument and he had no idea where her mother was.

Karen’s remains were so decomposed when they were found eight months later, an autopsy was unable to reveal the cause of death and Ristevski has never offered an explanation.

Borce Ristevski carries the coffin of his wife in 2017.

Ristevski was initially charged with murder in December 2016, but Justice Beale ruled the evidence available could not prove murderous intent. Instead, on the eve of his murder trial, Ristevski pleaded guilty to manslaughter, with the judge noting “you have finally accepted responsibility for killing Karen”.

The Director of Public Prosecutions is yet to decide whether to challenge Ristevski’s sentence and has 28 days to lodge an appeal.

Attorney-General Jill Hennessy declined to comment other than to offer sympathy to Karen’s family and friends.

Karen Ristevski with her husband Borce Ristevski and daughter Sarah.

Justice Beale said Sarah was also a victim of the crime, given how close she was to her mother, and that he was conscious today’s sentencing would add to her grief and suffering.

“Indeed, after your wife, she is your principle victim as Sarah and her mother were very close … her predicament is an agonising one,” Justice Beale said.

“Even now, the possibility for some degree of closure for the family is complicated, if not cruel, as they do not know how Karen died.”

A childhood friend of Karen, Sam, had been hoping Ristevski was handed a “fair” sentence for killing her.

“I can’t believe that manslaughter’s actually a fair charge. In a way, it is him taking control, isn’t it, of his own sentencing,” she told the Nine Network. “He controlled how Karen died, he controlled where she went, that her body wasn’t looked after.

“Now he is controlling that he is able to have a lighter sentence, which I find incredibly, incredibly unfair.”

Sam and her sister spent their weekends searching for Ms Ristevski, on hearing she was last seen in Toolern Vale.

They came within 50 metres of where her body was dumped.

Borce Ristevski (centre right) and their daughter at a police press conference in 2016 after pleading for information about Karen.

“In Macedon, my sister said, ‘I can smell something.’ I said, ‘I can smell something.’ I said, ‘Don’t worry, it’s probably just a kangaroo.’ Later on, we found that’s where she was found,” Sam told the Nine Network. She said she wanted to speak out because no one was being a “voice” for her childhood friend.

“Karen was a beautiful girl. She was very shy. She was very attractive, but very naive. She had a very close group of schoolfriends, one of whom was my sister, one of my sisters. She just had so much life and energy in her and so much sweetness.” She said she hoped the Ristevskis’ daughter Sarah is “standing up strongly”. “I know she needs her father, but I believe her mother needs a voice and somebody needed to look after Karen and her interests and say what a wonderful, wonderful person she was too.”

Victorian opposition leader Michael O’Brien described the sentence as “woefully inadequate”, calling for a parliamentary committee to be established to review and reform Victoria’s “broken sentencing laws”.

No To Violence CEO Jacqui Watt said: “Does this sentence reflect community attitudes now that the community is more aware of the prevalence and serious nature of family violence? The answer is clearly no.” Despite her father’s manslaughter admission, Sarah Ristevski stood by him, supplying a “glowing reference” for her dad.

It detailed the “unexplainable” love between herself and her parents, describing the trio as “inseparable”.

Justice Beale sympathised with Sarah.

“Anyone with a modicum of compassion must understand that her predicament is an agonising one,” he said.

AAP