Sarah Ristevski, the daughter of jailed wife killer Borce Ristevski, has spoken of the nightmare she was trapped in since the day her mother Karen disappeared.
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"I felt like we were just zombies, just not sleeping, not eating, we just paused in that day. It just felt like we were trapped in a nightmare," Sarah told the Nine Network on Sunday night.
Sarah spoke with Nine's 60 minutes in her first public appearance outside of court.
Confused and overwhelmed to the point of asking for a break from answering questions, Sarah said "she didn't know what to believe" when it came to her father's innocence.
Karen Ristevski was killed and dumped in Victorian bushland by her husband in 2016. After years of silence and lies he finally pleaded guilty to manslaughter in 2019.
Sarah, however, maintained her father "still loves her mum" and she refused to fully break her faith in his innocence.
In December last year, Borce Ristevski was re-sentenced in Victoria's Court of Appeal to 13 years' jail for his manslaughter conviction, an increase of four years on his original sentence.
"I believe in him. I think that's what it is" Sarah said.
"I think that because at the end of the day he's my father and I have one parent left. And even though he's pleaded guilty I guess sometimes I just find it hard."
When Sarah asked her father where her mother was, he told her she had gone for a walk after an argument and assured her "he was worried".
The 24-year-old Sarah, who supported her father throughout his trial, claimed she didn't give a victim impact statement because of the way police treated her and her father.
"I think I just didn't want to (give a statement) to the officers because I was giving it to those who were so horrible to me," she said.
Sarah maintained that police told them her mother "was probably at the pokies" when she was reported missing.
She described how distressed she felt when accusations against her father started emerging but confirmed she had confronted him about her mother's killing.
"I asked him if he had anything to do with it," she told Nine.
Borce Ristevki's answer to that question, according to Sarah, was "no".
With her father serving time and "missing her mother every day", Sarah acknowledged she was starting a new chapter alone but she expected to "make her parents proud."
Australian Associated Press
