Borce Ristevski’s Sentence Increased

Borce Ristevski’s sentence increased to 13 years! Good news, finally! The Attorney General listened and took heed of our campaigning and lobbying and outrage at the unduly lenient sentence originally handed out by Supreme Court Justice Judge Christopher Beale to Borce Ristevski.

This case is important for all women everywhere and I felt that we should raise our voices collectively to challenge the original sentence of 9 years, eligible for parole after six.

After all, how can it be right that Borce Ristevski who admitted to killing his wife, Karen of 27 years, and disposing of her body and her personal affects was sentenced to effectively five years in prison, when a one punch offender, Joseph Esmaili appeared before the same court, and received a 10 year sentence, eligible for parole after 10 years for killing surgeon Patrick Pritzwald-Stegmann?

My Two Cents:  I am pleased that our voices were heard and Borce Ristevski's sentence increased to 13 years. It was the right thing to do. However, I cannot help but feel the sentence should be closer to twenty years given the fact Ristevski lied continuously and repeatedly, he carried her coffin at the funeral, he out her daughter and family through so much unnecessary heart ache, he has shown no remorse, his post offence behaviour disposing of her and al l her personal affects and did not revealed why and how he did it.

From this sentencing, I find it hard to draw any other conclusion that a man's life is worth more than a woman's, and if that man is a surgeon, he appears to count even more. This cannot be right and highlights patriarchal society in all it's glory, the misogyny and the gender bias in decision making. We have a lot of work to do to challenge this.

My final thought is with Karen #HerNameWasKarenRistevski

For previous coverage click here