‘You are evil’: Husband’s ‘despicable’ murder of his childhood sweetheart
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After Zoran Pandilovski strangled his estranged wife to death in the family home, he moved her body to the basement and hid it under the stairs.
The 48-year-old then used her mobile phone to take two photographs of her before fleeing and crashing his car.
Zoran Pandilovski has pleaded guilty to murdering estranged wife Elaine. Credit: Facebook
When on July 14, 2020 Elaine Pandilovski, 44, failed to show up for work as a teacher’s aide at a Melbourne school, friends and family searched her Mill Park home fearing the worst.
They frantically looked for Elaine three times, before police were called and found her body in a basement storage room that evening.
Pandilovski now claims he moved her lifeless body so that his son, then aged 12, would not arrive home to find her dead.
Elaine’s family stared down and yelled at Pandilovski on Friday, as he faced a pre-sentence hearing in the Supreme Court after pleading guilty to murdering his wife.
Elaine Pandilovski was found dead at her Mill Park home in July 2020.
Her mother, brother, niece and best friend spoke of their heartbreak and the impact her death has had on the couple’s son, who has autism.
“A mother isn’t supposed to bury a child, a grandmother isn’t supposed to be raising a grandson,” Elaine’s mother, Kathy Dafopoulos, said in a statement.
“You are evil, and I hate what you’ve done to all of us, especially [her son].”
Pandilovski had a history of domestic violence towards his wife of 18 years, the woman he described as his childhood sweetheart.
The couple met in high school and married in 2002 and had their son six years later.
In the year before the murder, Elaine had sought court orders to stop Pandilovski coming to their Mill Park home.
After those orders lapsed, the couple tried to be civil and Pandilovski would visit for lunch and dinner to see their son.
He believed they were going to reconcile, but Elaine told her mother she had no intention of reuniting.
The son was sleeping over at his grandmother’s house on the day of the murder, when Pandilovski visited the family home to pick up the boy’s broken iPad.
Police at Elaine Pandilovski’s home on the day after her body was discovered.Credit: Justin McManus
He was seen on CCTV walking into the home at 7.45am and left less than two hours later.
Prosecutor Neill Hutton said the murder was slow and deliberate, and the couple had struggled in the lounge before Pandilovski strangled Elaine.
After hiding her body, he drove down the Western Ring Road and collided with another car, injuring two people.
Police arrested him after the crash and found Elaine’s wallet and phone on him.
Pandilovski’s barrister, David Hallowes, SC, said the murder was not premeditated or planned but at some point his client lost control and committed “the despicable crime”.
He asked for Pandilovski to be handed less than the standard 25-year prison sentence for murder, as he was remorseful and had been a model prisoner by mentoring other inmates.
Pandilovski, who cried from the dock and kept his head down for the hearing, will be sentenced on August 11.
Elaine’s family members stood and peered over the balcony of the court’s public gallery as the killer was escorted from the courtroom.
AAP
If you or anyone you know needs support, you can contact the National Sexual Assault, Domestic and Family Violence Counselling Service on 1800RESPECT (1800 737 732), Lifeline 131 114, or Beyond Blue 1300 224 636.
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