NATION Silence and lies increase jail term

YEARS of silence and lies have earned Borce Ristevski four more years in jail for killing his wife and dumping her body in Victorian bushland.

But Karen Ristevski’s grieving family still don’t expect to learn how she died.

Victoria’s Court of Appeal has ruled Ristevski’s original nine-year maximum jail sentence is inadequate given his steadfast refusal to say what happened before he bundled his wife’s body into the boot of her car at Avondale Heights on June 29, 2016.

His subsequent silence and lies meant he was yesterday resentenced to 13 years’ jail for his manslaughter conviction.

He must now serve 10 years before being eligible for parole, up from an original six-year minimum. He has already spent 723 days behind bars.

Outside court, Ms Ristevski’s younger brother Stephen Williams told reporters the result wasn’t what he wanted.

“I wanted capital punishment to be brought back in but that was never going to happen so (we) take what today was and start moving on,” he said.

He does not expect Ristevski to ever reveal what happened.

The killer was a pallbearer at his wife’s funeral and denied being responsible for her death until the eve of his Supreme Court trial.

He pleaded guilty to manslaughter after the court ruled there was not enough evidence to support a murder charge but prosecutors appealed his minimum six- year prison sentence.

Handing down the Court of Appeal’s decision, Chief Justice Anne Ferguson said the case was difficult to compare to others.

“There is no evidence of the highly charged emotional environment in which domestic killings typically occur.

“In fact the evidence is to the contrary. There is no apparent reason for, or context

(HE) DID MORE THAN MAINTAIN HIS RIGHT TO SILENCE. HE TOOK ACTIVE STEPS TO AVOID DISCOVERY OF HIS CRIME

CHIEF JUSTICE ANNE FERGUSON

to, what the respondent (Ristevski) did,” she said.

The killer lied to his family, friends and police, fronting a media conference about Mrs Ristevski’s disappearance and maintaining she had left home to clear her head after the couple argued.

“(He) did more than maintain his right to silence. He took active steps to avoid discovery of his crime and how the death was caused,” Justice Ferguson said.

“To this day, the respondent has shown not one scintilla of remorse. He has subjected those affected by the death to the most awful state of the unknown.”