The estranged husband of a young mum took ghoulish photos of her crumpled, dead body after strangling her in the family home, a court has heard.
Zoran Pandilovski, 47, throttled his childhood sweetheart Elaine Pandilovski, 44, in July 2020 in a fit of jealous rage.
On Friday, the cowardly brute faced the Supreme Court of Victoria for a pre-sentence plea hearing where the devastated loved ones of his victim finally had their chance to front him.
Ms Pandilovski’s body was discovered underneath her Mill Park home, on the northern outskirts of Melbourne, after Pandilovski was involved in a serious car crash.
Elaine Pandilovski was a doting mum and cared for kids with special needs. Her body was found under the home she shared with her young son
Zoran Pandilovski (left), their son (centre), and Elaine Pandilovski
Zoran Pandilovski has been charged with the murder of his estranged wife. Pictured: Elaine and Zoran Pandilovski
The court heard Pandilovski had gone to his estranged wife’s home under the guise of collecting their son’s iPad.
The couple had been separated for 20 months after previous allegations of domestic violence.
Crown prosecutor Neill Hutton said police ascertained Pandilovski likely attacked Elaine in the lounge room, with detectives finding evidence of a struggle.
Forensic experts would later determine she had fought for her life, with traces of Pandilovski’s DNA found under her fingernails.
When he was done squeezing the life out of the teacher’s aid, who had dedicated her life to raising their son, he dragged her down a flight of stairs into the home’s basement where he stuffed her in a storage cabinet.
Before leaving, Pandilovski inexplicably took two photos of Elaine’s dead body – images that were later discovered on his phone.
Pandilovski’s barrister David Hallowes, SC could provide no explanation as to why his client took the photos, but refuted suggestions they were ‘trophy photos’.
‘We say you shouldn’t find that was somehow a trophy photo that has been taken. We say it gives him no credit whatsoever but we say that finding is not one that your honour should make against him,’ he said.
‘In a sense it doesn’t really fit with the narrative of what then happens, and we say it’s speculation at best in relation to that.’
Pandilovski was arrested after slamming his car head-on into a random motorist in what detectives suspected at the time may have been a deliberate act to kill himself.
Pandilovski immediately pleaded not guilty to his ex-wife’s murder.
Elaine Pandilovski and Zoran Pandilovski (pictured) were high school sweethearts. They had a son together
Detectives (pictured in 2020) are seen leaving the Mill Park property after discovering the body of Pandilovski’s estranged wife Elaine Pandilovski
Elaine Pandilovski’s (pictured) body was discovered after police conducted a welfare check at the home on at Mill Park
A forensic psychiatrist had declared Pandilovski fit to stand trial in February last year.
During a hearing last year, the court heard Pandilovski had been assessed by Dr Jacqueline Rakov, who reported she believed there was insufficient medical evidence to support a defence of mental impairment.
Pandilovski then tried to get a different opinion from Dr Patrick Newton, who agreed with Dr Rakov’s diagnosis.
He finally pleaded guilty to Elaine’s murder in April this year a day into his Supreme Court murder trial.
Elaine had been a special needs school teacher, who also cared for her 10-year-old son with autism.
She had lived alone with the couple’s son when her life was cruelly taken.
Family became concerned for her welfare after she failed to turn up to work at the Plenty Parkland Primary School in Mill Park.
Elaine had been high school sweethearts with her killer and previously lived together for 15 years.
Upon their separation, Pandilovski moved to the nearby suburb of Epping where he continued to hold hope that his estranged wife would take him back.
Elaine Pandilovski appears deep in thought as her young son enjoys an arcade game. She would be dead less than two years after the photo was taken
Ms Pandilovski’s aunt shared a heartbreaking post about the loss of a ‘beautiful, caring and compassionate’ woman
A police car is seen out the front of a residential property in Mill Park after the alleged murder
But the court heard he had been living with false hope, with his long suffering ex telling friends she had no intention of taking the brute back.
Local residents said Elaine was a devoted mother and had been living at the single-storey home with the couple’s son.
Her vicious death rocked Melbourne and saw an outpouring of grief from friends and family.
One by one Elaine’s friends and family fronted Pandilovski to tell him the beautiful soul he had destroyed and the devastation his actions had caused.
Among them was Elaine’s teenage niece, who broke down in tears before bravely reading out her gut wrenching victim impact statement.
Mr Hallowes provided little insight into why his client felt the need to murder his ex-wife, who had continued to facilitate access to their son throughout their separation.
The court heard Pandilovski simply ‘lost control’ upon visiting his ex-wife’s home to collect their son’s damaged iPad, with prosecutors accepting he had not planned the murder.
Mr Hallowes said Pandilovski took no steps to conceal his crime, despite moving her body into the basement, which he claimed was only done to spare their son from finding his dead mum.
Justice Christopher Beale will sentence Pandilovski on August 11.
DailyMail
