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<\/p>\nA man who “left” his stepfather to “rot” before the body was found in a mummified state has been sentenced to nine years’ imprisonment.<\/p>\n
Nikola Golem lied to his mother about her husband’s death for more than a year, and let the “mentally unwell and fragile” woman sleep beside the decomposing body, Brisbane’s Supreme Court heard on Friday.<\/p>\n
With time already served, Mr Golem will be eligible for parole next month after pleading guilty to manslaughter and interfering with a corpse.<\/p>\n
Police discovered the mummified remains of 69-year-old Tomislav Nemes at his waterfront Gold Coast home after they were called by his daughter to conduct a welfare check in April 2023.<\/p>\n
His stepson, Nikola Golem and wife, Dragica Nemes, had been living in the Benowa home with the decaying body for 14 months.<\/p>\n
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The court heard Mr Nemes had poorly controlled diabetes, back pain and hypertension. (Supplied: Queensland Police Service)<\/p>\n
Mr Nemes and his wife were practising Jehovah’s Witnesses, and by 2020, they had begun to reject Western medication, resist treatment and become reluctant to engage with doctors.<\/p>\n
Justice Rebecca Treston said this became a particular issue for Mr Nemes, who had poorly controlled diabetes, back pain and hypertension, which reduced his life expectancy.<\/p>\n
Mr Nemes resisted treatment and became bed-bound after a fall in 2021.<\/p>\n
“He was quite simply left to rot,” she said.\u00a0<\/p>\n
“What happened after his death is truly difficult to understand.”<\/p>\n
The court heard Mr Golem lied to his mother, who spoke English as a second language and was “mentally unwell and fragile”.<\/p>\n
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Mr Nemes and his wife were practising Jehovah’s Witnesses. (Supplied: Queensland Police Service)<\/p>\n
Mr Golem told his mother doctors had recommended rest and herbal medication when he knew she was considering engaging genuine medication attention for her husband, the court heard.<\/p>\n
“You seriously misled your mother\u2026 You knew that he was dead. As a result, your mother continued to sleep beside her husband’s dead body for some time until the smell of his decomposing body became too strong,” Justice Treston said.<\/p>\n
Mr Golem took away Mr Nemes’ phone after he began making financial investments and, as a result, he was cut off from his other family that lived interstate and could not call for help.<\/p>\n
Family unaware of death<\/p>\n
Ms Nemes’ daughter Suzanna Belijanski said she was told a “string of lies” by Mr Golem when she travelled to the Gold Coast home to see him.<\/p>\n
She said it took police four days to do a welfare check.<\/p>\n
“For years, I didn’t know where he was. I learnt only by chance when my sister ran into a relative,” she said.<\/p>\n
Ms Belijanski said when she went to the house, Mr Golem and his mother appeared, and she was “told to go away very aggressively”.<\/p>\n
“I was told a string of lies. My dad was taken to PA hospital, my dad was under an alias because people were out to get him,” she told the court.<\/p>\n
“I rang the hospitals asking, no one had had him, because the whole time he was in his bed, where he’d been dead for 14 months.”<\/p>\n
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It’s alleged Mr Nemes’s body was left in the Benowa home for more than a year after his death. (Supplied: Queensland Police Service)<\/p>\n
Ms Belijanski said she contacted police but was told initially that they were too busy to come to the home and advised her to “knock louder”.<\/p>\n
She said she cannot “unsee” police footage of the welfare check where Mr Golem and his mother were making food in the kitchen.<\/p>\n
“As if my dad was not lying dead and decomposed in the next room,” she said.<\/p>\n
Mr Nemes’ other daughter, Elizabeth Marzano, cried as she spoke about how, during this time, her calls to her father went unanswered.<\/p>\n
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Elizabeth Marzano (centre) said she was “haunted” by thoughts of her father’s death. (ABC News)<\/p>\n
“Dad was not forgotten. We believed he was living the retirement he worked so hard to earn; we believed he was happy.”<\/p>\n
Ms Marzano said she didn’t know her father had been sick and was “haunted” by thoughts of how he was left to die without medical care.<\/p>\n
“I find myself asking questions. Did he believe we had abandoned him? Did he know we would have come for him if we only knew?”<\/p>\n
‘He is remorseful’<\/p>\n
Mr Golem pleaded not guilty to murder but guilty to manslaughter. He also pleaded guilty to interfering with a corpse. He wore black padded headgear as he was pushed into court in a wheelchair.<\/p>\n
His defence lawyer, Martin Longhurst, said Mr Golem was best friends with his stepfather and had loved him.<\/p>\n
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Mr Golem’s defence lawyer, Martin Longhurst (centre), said his client was afraid of upsetting his mother. (ABC News)<\/p>\n
Mr Longhurst said Mr Nemes had an aversion to western medicine, and before going into a coma, he had refused to go to the hospital while he had verbal capacity.<\/p>\n
Mr Longhurst accepted that Mr Golem engaged in poor decision-making by lying to his mother, but he was afraid of upsetting her.<\/p>\n
He argued that Mr Golem should be released on parole immediately, as he had already served three years.<\/p>\n
“He is remorseful,” Mr Longhurst said.<\/p>\n
Mr Longhurst argued Mr Golem had significant brain trauma after being in a car accident as an eight-month-old.<\/p>\n