A woman who stuffed a tea towel down the throat of an 85 year old before disposing ofher body in a riverhas been permitted to enter a guilty plea to a manslaughter charge.
The body of Lolene Whitehandwas discovered floatingin the Maribyrnong River inMelbourne, Australiaby a fisherman on July 14, 2024.
On Thursday, June 18, her killer Milena Bogojevska, 51, appeared at a pre-sentence hearing in the Supreme Court of Victoria after being allowed to plead guilty to manslaughter rather than face a murder charge.
It remains unclear why the Director of Victoria's Office of Public Prosecutions, Brendan Kissane KC, chose not to pursue a murder trial. The court heard this was likely connected to unresolved questions surrounding Ms Whitehand's precise cause of death.
The court was informed that Ms Whitehand had been savagely beaten before being smothered and discarded in the river, wrapped in plastic with a blood-soaked tea towel forced into her mouth.
Ms Whitehand was last seen alive entering Ms Bogojevska's Glamis Street home on July 12 at around 4pm, just two doors from her own residence. Her disappearance immediately raised alarm amongst neighbours, who had grown deeply fond of the Glamis Street resident of 40 years.
Ms Whitehand's body was recovered wrapped in blue plastic sheets, her head concealed beneath a blue bag bearing the name "Anton" — Ms Bogojevska's 15 year old son's name — written in marker.
A post-mortem examination established her cause of death as upper airway obstruction alongside evidence of blunt force trauma to her face. Ms Bogojevska had been claiming a disability support pension of $778 a fortnight after allegedly injuring her back while employed as a cleaner, yet CCTV footage obtained by officers indicated she was capable of dragging the body from a car boot and rolling it into the river.
According to the prosecution's summary read aloud in court, Ms Bogojevska broke into Ms Whitehand's home shortly afterwards, making off with cash, jewellery, personal documents and her debit card, before embarking on an extravagant spending spree using the victim's funds.
"I got no money ... Give me money and I'll shop," Ms Bogojevska subsequently told officers as they uncovered the stolen items concealed within her home.
Source: Daily Express :: World Feed
