The judge said that despite him refusing to detail the killing, he wasn’t satisfied that it was “high level manslaughter”.
Good grief.
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Think the one punch law carrys a fixed sentence
Doesn’t send a good message to abusive men.
6 years for “accidentally” killing someone and hiding the body?
Probably best it’s not made public how he did it or we could see an influx.
Don’t misunderstand my response as not being outraged by the sentence, I am, I was ranting about it at work. It was a ridiculous sentencing by the judge.
This world is just ■■■■■■ up, good and proper. So many things wrong with it, I don’t blame people for despairing.
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Before damning the judge, you need to read his judgment. He was acting within the law of the day. If that needs changing, so be it.
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Disgraceful sentence. 6 years is scant justice for Karen & her family.
Broken hyoid bone, consistent with strangulation. The DPP should have pursued this angle further & gone harder, yet a plea bargain was expediently negotiated. Why?
Intent has to be proven for a murder conviction. The sticking point was the judge’s ruling that the accused’s post-offence conduct (i.e. disposal of Karen’s body, etc) didn’t infer murderous intent. I understand this was an important part of the prosecution’s case. So, when the judge disallowed evidence of the accused’s post-offence conduct, the prosecution realised that it would be difficult to secure a conviction, as both the act & intention need to be proven beyond a reasonable doubt. As such, they sought a conviction via a plea bargain & the reduced charge of manslaughter.
I believe the judge erred in making the above ruling, as the High Court set a precedent in the Baden-Clay case that post-offence conduct is relevant to intent.
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In his sentencing summary - available on austlii.edu.au ( short and worth a read) - the judge made the following observations :
- the cause of death was unable to be determined due to decomposition of the body; - the prosecution did not challenge the ruling that the post offence conduct could not be used to prove murderous intent ( as compared to unlawful intent)
Ristrevski only got a one year discount for pleading guilty , taking into account his lack of remorse and post offence conduct. The inference was that he expected a higher discount.
How easy. The courts are so chockers this plea will supposedly save time and the tax payers money. Ristevski obviously had a very switched on Barrister and also had his daughter on his side who gave him a good character reference. Charge downgraded from murder to manslaughter. Made it sound like he and his wife had a lot of problems but what happened wasn’t premeditated, like hell it wasn’t. Planned very well.
The courts in this country and many of those who preside over them are a joke.
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Murdoch media consistently selectively reports and misrepresents decisions of the Victorian judiciary - in line with its claims that Victoria is soft on crime and in line with the LNP racist anti immigration agenda ( and as espoused by Hunt and co before they got a please explain by the CJ of the Supreme Court and were forced to apologise)
Kidd took issue with the selective reporting in an oped to the Hun on another case .
If people think deaths arising from violence to women should be in a special category , as per the one punch deaths and certain statutory murder definitions, that is a matter for law reform.
Also, interesting to note that in the Baden Clay case the High Court looked at post offence actions as a whole - which included the lies about his affair.
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Making false reports to police etc.
S. 53(1) amended by Nos 9554 s. 2(2)(Sch. 2 item 341), 9642 s. 2(1), 8/1998
s. 5(1), 43/2011 s. 52(1), 37/2014 s. 10(Sch. item 160.18).
(1) Any person who falsely and with knowledge of the falsity of the report [voluntarily](http://classic.austlii.edu.au/au/legis/vic/consol_act/soa1966189/s53.html#voluntarily) reports or [causes to be reported](http://classic.austlii.edu.au/au/legis/vic/consol_act/soa1966189/s53.html#causes_to_be_reported) to any police officer or to a protective services officer that an act has been done or an event has occurred, which act or event as so reported is such as calls for an investigation by a police officer or a protective services officer shall be guilty of an offence.
Penalty: 120 penalty units or imprisonment for 1 year.
Was he charged with this and if not, why not?
Victoria, the state of do one, get one free.
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Cheers, BA.
To restate what I said earlier, I believe the judge erred in making this ruling, in light of the recent High Court precedent in the Baden-Clay case (when they overturned the Court of Appeal’s decision). Post-offence conduct can indeed infer intent. At the very least, the judge should have allowed the jury to hear the evidence of Ritevski’s post-offence conduct and to test its credulity. Had the judge done so, I believe a murder conviction would have resulted. The question that remains is why the judge made such a ruling in light of the recent High-Court precedent.
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I don’t even understand the logic.
He admits to killing his wife?
He admits to hiding her body?
Won’t say how it happened.
Charge gets downgraded to manslaughter.
He gets a low grade manslaughter sentence.
The law system is a pathetic joke.
The judge who sentenced is a pathetic joke.
I feel sorry for the police and prosecution that this is the best result the system allowed.
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Someone maybe on the take……………………
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When the charge gets dropped to manslaughter, unlike the Baden Clay case?
This is real concern. It is the belief of many a layman.
The judge and prosecution may have been hamstrung to a degree by matters of law however this sends an awful message to society about how seriously violence towards women is viewed through the eye of our law.
It is so so wrong.
Yes it is and it has been this way for a long, long, time.
Remember it is only 50 plus years ago, it was acceptable and law in this country, for a husband to bash his wife and children because they were seen as chattels. A man could have his wife locked up in a mental asylum because he thought she was acting strangely or depressed.
Not a lot has changed although it seems as though it has, but in law, NO!
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According to MDSO the character reference provided Ristevski’s daughter resulted in a murder charge was downgraded to manslaughter - A bizarre post.
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In my 9 to 5 life, I work with serious violent offenders. I can tell you that male perpetrators of family violence are a different kettle of fish. You can have the legal briefs there right in front of them, all the evidence and they will outright deny, justify and paint themselves as the victim. It’s sickening
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And Paddy, this sentence I’d suggest, hardly sends them a strong message as to how society really feels about violence against women.
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