An Australian woman is continuing to defend her father one year after he was convicted of her mother's manslaughter.
In an interview with 60 Minutes last week, Sarah Ristevski said she still found it hard to believe her father Borce was involved in her mother's death and she will continue to stick by him.
Sarah's mother Karen Ristevski was found dead in Melbourne bushland in February 2017 after going missing in June the previous year.
In December 2017 Borce was charged with her murder after police investigations found she had been killed in the family home in Avondale Heights before her body was moved.
Tapped phone conversations contributed to 22,000 pages of evidence against him.
Borce entered a not guilty plea and denied any involvement in the murder but on the eve of his murder trial in 2019, he shocked Australia when he admitted to the manslaughter and was sentenced to 13 years in prison.
Ristevski spoke to 60 Minutes last week where she said that she would continue to stand by her father.
"He's my dad, so nothing's changed. I don't know what to believe," she said.
During the trial, Ristevski stuck beside Borce and when asked in court to provide a victim impact statement, she instead provided a character reference for her father which highlighted the good person she thought he was.
"Even though he's pleaded guilty, I find it hard to comprehend that he is guilty. I think if he were in my position he would support me," she said.
Ristevski said she was devastated that she had already lost one parent and didn't want to lose Borce too.
"He's my father. I have one parent left... I loved him before, I love him now and I'll love him in 11 years when he's home."
During the interview, which is reported to have earned her a six-figure sum, the graphic designer said she wanted to let the public know her side of the story despite preferring not to talk about it.
"I don't like to talk about what happened. We don't talk about it. We don't think about it."
"I'd rather think of the better times, I just think it's tiring. I can't move forward if I'm stuck in the past."
She said she is emotionally drained and when she meets with her father in prison, they grieve for Karen together.
"We both have the same amount of sadness. He loved my mum... He misses her every day."
Ristevski said she can "see the sadness [he feels] at the loss of my mum".
She told 60 Minutes that she feels trapped without her mother and with her father still in prison.
"My dad is serving the time, but I am as well... The realisation that I'm kind of alone."
"I felt like we were just zombies, just not sleeping, not eating, we just paused on that day. It just felt like we were trapped in a nightmare."
While on a recent visit to her father Ristevski said they spoke of the interview and Borce offered advice.
"He tells me I'm my own person and that's how he raised me. For the interview, he told me to just be truthful and be myself. That's all he asked."
Ristevski denied being controlled by her father and that it was her decision to do the interview.
