SHE WAS TAKEN FROM HER SONS… – The devastated family of Melbourne mum Vicki Apostolopoulos has shared a heartbreaking plea after she was allegedly fatally stabbed by a neighbour in front of her children.
‘Since her death, I have been trapped in a living nightmare I cannot wake up from.’
Always the generous neighbour, Vicki Apostolopoulos baked cupcakes for Milorad Zaric and was happy to hear he had enjoyed them.
Little did she know he would stab her to death in front of her young sons just two days later.
Zaric, 48, had been chasing after his own teenage son who sought sanctuary at Apostolopoulos’ Bayswater home in Melbourne’s east on the morning of November 16, 2024.
A confused Apostolopoulos let the boy inside and then opened the door for Zaric when he would not stop banging on it.
Zaric said “welcome home Vicki” before pulling a knife from his waistband and stabbing her multiple times in the neck, stomach and shoulder.
Apostolopoulos’ 16-year-old son grabbed Zaric in a chokehold and ordered his 12-year-old brother out of the house.
Zaric repeatedly punched the teen and slammed him against a wall but the boy only let go to run to safety.
When police arrived, Zaric told officers he had taken ketamine before beginning to growl and call out for Satan.
Apostolopoulos’ sister Mary Kadis said on Tuesday Zaric’s drug-addled state was no excuse, as the killer pleaded guilty to murder in the Victorian Supreme Court.
“The choices leading up to that day were yours,” she said.
“Did Vicki have a choice that day? No, she didn’t.”
Two days before the murder, Apostolopoulos took cupcakes to Zaric’s house.
The killer thanked her over text, describing the treats as “amazing”.
He then started abusing ketamine, cannabis and alcohol, and he lashed out at his son on November 15, pushing the boy down the stairs and stomping on his head.
Zaric attacked his son again on the morning of the murder, punching the teen who fled to Apostolopoulos’ when he brandished a knife.
Apostolopoulos’ mother Sofia Apostolopoulos said the grief she carried was beyond words.
“My daughter was my life,” she said in a statement to the court.
“Since her death, I have been trapped in a living nightmare I cannot wake up from.”
Close friend Maria Pantelios described Apostolopoulos as like family.
“Her presence had a way of lifting others, even in the darkest moments,” she told the court.
Defence barrister Ruth Shann SC argued Zaric’s crime was out of character and his mind was altered by ketamine.
“This is not some cold, callous murderer,” Shann said.
“This is a kind, gentle and generous man who was struggling with depression,” she said.
Justice Jacinta Forbes will sentence Zaric at a later date.
Outside court, Kadis urged the judge to consider a life sentence, saying the family had “been left with a lifetime of grief, heartbreak and pain”.
