As Borce Ristevski admitted to killing his wife Karen, we're all thinking of Sarah Ristevski.

On April 18 2019, Borce Ristevski was sentenced to nine years in prison for the death of Karen Ristevski.

Two years after Karen Ristevski’s body was found dumped in bushland in February 2017, her husband Borce Ristevski has admitted to killing her, pleading guilty to manslaughter on Wednesday.

Up until yesterday, the 54-year-old had vehemently denied killing the dress shop owner, whose skeletal remains were found eight months after he reported her disappearance on June 29, 2016, in Victoria’s Macedon Regional Park.

When Karen first vanished, Borce told police she had gone for a walk to clear her mind and never returned.

He publicly pleaded for information about her. When her body was found, he carried the coffin at her funeral – wiping away tears as friends and family comforted him. A photo of the moment now taking on sinister new meaning.

But in December 2017, police charged Borce with his wife’s murder after an investigation that involved listening devices and CCTV footage analysis.

It’s alleged he took his wife’s Mercedes-Benz roadster to dispose of the body in bushland, killing the signal of his and her mobile phones on the way.

He then allegedly dumped her body between two logs and concealed it with branches before returning home.

The couple were in deep financial straits when he killed her, prosecutors allege.

But when the news broke yesterday, amongst the many comments of people relieved to hear that there was finally some resolution to a murder case that has spanned two years, there was one person that many people couldn't stop thinking about - Borce and Karen Ristevski’s daughter, Sarah.

Throughout the near three years since Karen's disappearance, their daughter Sarah, who was 21 when her mother vanished, has been standing by her father's side, pleading for information and defending her father in court.

She wasn't without her suspicions though - there were things her father was saying that didn't add up - so she asked him directly about it. We now know he lied to her.

In a conversation captured by a police listening device in September 2016, Sarah Ristevski questioned her father about what he was doing that day her mother disappeared.

“I was going to get shisha,” he replied.

“I didn’t say anything because I didn’t know it was legal.”

Sarah went on: “You were out of the house for two hours. Your phone is off for two hours… They pinged you on the Calder (Freeway).”

Borce responded: “That’s what they are trying to plant out there, Sarah.”

“That doesn’t make sense,” Sarah said.

“Nothing makes sense because they’re making it up as they go,” he replied.

It was the beginning of nearly three years of deception.

In emotional testimony at Borce's committal hearing in July 2018, Sarah defended her father, saying he had never acted aggressively towards her mother; that he was, in fact, the "calming influence" in the family.

The graphic designer told the court, “I didn’t grow up in a household where there were major arguments. My parents didn’t argue a lot”.
“Mum would get annoyed. She had the same personality as me,” she said. “And dad was always the calm one. He would calm us down.”

Sarah also said her father was distressed after her mother's disappearance.

“He was extremely worried,” she said.

“He was very concerned about where my mum was.”

During Sarah's testimony, Borce broke down in tears - the first time he had shown emotion during the committal hearing.

But on Wednesday, on the eve of his murder trial, he finally stopped lying and pleaded guilty.

His daughter was not in court when her father entered his guilty plea. Not many people were as it was entirely unexpected.

In fact, it was an admission that his daughter reportedly did not know was coming, according to The Daily Mail.

The publication report that sources close to the case said Sarah, now 23, "did not anticipate" the plea.
Borce's confession came after a Victorian Supreme Court judge ruled that prosecution evidence of Borce's 'murderous intent' was not admissible.

His manslaughter plea means he will avoid a life sentence, the maximum penalty for a murder charge.

In the wake of the news, we are all thinking about Sarah Ristevski. We hope she has people around her that she can trust, that now more than ever, that she is being protected and loved.

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