Lawyer for Borce Ristevski tells Melbourne magistrates court ‘he will be pleading not guilty’ to the murder

This article is more than 2 years old

This article is more than 2 years old

Borce Ristevski will fight a charge he murdered his wife Karen, whose body was found in Victorian bushland months after she went missing in 2016.

Homicide detectives arrested the 53-year-old on Wednesday morning and a short time later he faced Melbourne magistrates court charged with his wife’s murder.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Sarah Ristevski, daughter of Karen Ristevski, carries a photo of her mother at the funeral. Photograph: Joe Castro/AAP





“He will be pleading not guilty,” his lawyer Rob Stary told magistrate Angela Bolger.

Karen Ristevski's body found in bushland eight months after she vanished Read more

Prosecutor Andrew Tinney SC said police needed extra time to complete their brief of evidence “because of the nature of the investigation and the ongoing work that needs to be a done”.

Stary said his client had already been under investigation for a number of months.

“This man doesn’t have any history and we want the matter expedited,” he told the court.

Ristevski has been remanded in custody and will return to court on April 18.

No one from his family was in court on Wednesday.

Karen Ristevski went missing from her Oakley Drive, Avondale Heights home on the morning of June 29 in 2016. Her remains were discovered in bushland in the Mount Macedon regional park eight months later, on February 20.

In March, hundreds of mourners filled St John’s Uniting church at Essendon for a private funeral service. Her husband was one of the pallbearers, while their daughter Sarah carried a framed photo of her mother to lead the funeral procession.