Melbourne man Borce Ristevski to stand trial for murder of Kiwi wife

  • 02/08/2018
Borce Ristevski has denied any involvement in his wife's disappearance or death.
Borce Ristevski has denied any involvement in his wife's disappearance or death. Photo credit: 7 News

A man has been accused of killing his Kiwi wife in Melbourne, and will stand trial for murder. 

Borce Ristevski, 54, has pleaded not guilty to murdering his wife Karen, 47, after standing before the Melbourne Magistrates' Court on Thursday, news.com.au reports. 

Ristevski's shop-owner wife's body was found by a passer-by in Melbourne's Mount Macedon on June 29, 2016, eight months after she went missing. 

Police claim Ristevski murdered Karen at their Avondale Heights home in Melbourne, after an argument about their finances. 

Magistrate Suzanne Cameron said there was enough evidence to send Ristevski to trial charged with murder, news.com.au reports.

He will appear in the Victorian Supreme Court on August 6. 

Ristevski has denied any involvement in his wife's disappearance or death, despite switching his phone off for several hours on the day Karen went missing. 

His 22-year-old daughter, Sarah, has questioned her father's whereabouts the night Karen went missing, saying it "doesn't make sense" he switched his phone off. 

But Ristevski alleges police are trying to influence the case against him, news.com.au reports.

His lawyers have agreed there is sufficient evidence to proceed to trial on a manslaughter charge, but they want the murder charge dropped.

Newshub.