A wife slept next to her dead husband\u2019s rotting corpse in what\u2019s been compared to a \u201chorror movie\u201d by a family who faced the \u201cunbearable truth\u201d that their beloved father had been killed and left to mummify for more than a year by a stepson he had helped raise. <\/p>\n
The bizarre and stomach-turning details surrounding the prolonged demise of the once proud and successful immigrant businessman Tomislav Nemes, 69, at his Gold Coast home were heard in the sentencing of Nikola Golem.<\/p>\n
The 51-year-old wearing a black headguard was pushed on a wheelchair into Brisbane Supreme Court where he pleaded guilty to a downgraded charge of manslaughter and interference of a corpse. <\/p>\n
The court heard Mr Nemes was bedbound after a fall and the low-IQ Golem, in a period close to his stepfather\u2019s death, voluntarily took up his care but failed to obtain medical attention and lied to his mother about speaking to doctors about treatment.<\/p>\n
Mr Nemes died in February 2022. <\/p>\n
Crown prosecutor Stephanie Gallagher said for the next 14 months Golem, who had initially been charged with murder, engaged \u201cin horrific acts\u201d concealing his stepfather\u2019s death and leaving the body to decay and mummify in the home.<\/p>\n
He told his mother, the victim\u2019s second wife Dragica Nemes \u2013 who is not accused of any wrongdoing \u2013 that he was still alive and just in a coma. The lies had significant impacts, she said. <\/p>\n
\u201cFor example, the deceased\u2019s wife lay beside and slept beside the dead body for a period of time until the smell became too much,\u201d she said. <\/p>\n
\u201cIt was clear to her that there were bugs around and the defendant indicated that the insects and the smells were from the bad toxins leaving Mr Nemes\u2019 body and that he was improving.\u201d <\/p>\n
When police eventually came upon the victim\u2019s corpse his face was unrecognisable and his body was \u201cinfested with insects\u201d and their carcasses and there were rodent faeces surrounding it. <\/p>\n
\u201cThe true horror of the way that he was left \u2026 the true extent of this (offence) really can\u2019t be understood by the words on the page,\u201d Ms Gallagher said handing a sealed envelope of photos to Justice Rebecca Treston. <\/p>\n
Two of Mr Nemes\u2019 daughters spoke to the horror that had unfolded for the family. <\/p>\n
\u201cTrying to make sense of how he was treated at the end of his life is a torment I carry every day,\u201d Suzanna Beljanski said. <\/p>\n
\u201cThe law has now given what happened to him a name and this court will give its sentence. \u201cBut I live with the part that has no name. There is no word in English or in my father\u2019s own language for what it is to have your dad hidden in his bed for 14 months while you search for him.\u201d<\/p>\n
It was Ms Beljanski\u2019s persistence on a trip up from her home in Canberra in April 2023 that finally unravelled Golem\u2019s web of lies and unearthed her dad\u2019s killing. <\/p>\n
At the tall gates of the Benowa house she begged to be let in to see her father who had dropped out of contact. <\/p>\n
Golem refused her access. <\/p>\n
Ms Beljanski wanted to see a photo of him and speak to his doctor. <\/p>\n
Golem refused. <\/p>\n
He told her Mr Nemes was getting treatment and doctors were attending weekly. Both lies. <\/p>\n
When she reluctantly left Golem texted her that her father\u2019s doctors would be in touch and that he was being taken to hospital.<\/p>\n
She checked local hospitals but nothing surfaced because Golem had been lying. <\/p>\n
Police, initially indifferent, eventually acted on Ms Beljanski grave concerns but Mrs Nemes, described as mentally fragile, refused them access to their home saying her husband was very ill. <\/p>\n
For 45 minutes police negotiated before they finally entered the home and confronted the horrific scenes. <\/p>\n
Even then Golem maintained the farce that the victim was still alive. Only in August 2023 did he accept he had been lying all along.<\/p>\n
Mr Nemes\u2019 daughter Elizabeth Marzano said her father\u2019s last moments haunted her. <\/p>\n
\u201cDid he know we loved him? Did he wonder if we had abandoned him? Most of all, did he know he was not forgotten? Those questions stay with me everyday,\u201d she said through tears.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf we had only known the truth, we would have moved heaven and earth to be by his side.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis case raises issues of profound importance, and I hope it reinforces the importance of protecting vulnerable people. <\/p>\n
Mr Nemes had been married to Dragica for 30 years and was a father figure to Golem.<\/p>\n
Mr Nemes had a lengthy medical history including diabetes, hypertension and chronic back pain. <\/p>\n
In their latter years the married couple who were Jehovah\u2019s Witnesses turned away from Western medicine. <\/p>\n
After a fall in August 2021 Mr Nemes did not want to be treated by a hospital and developed bed sores when he became bed bound. <\/p>\n
Golem took photos of these bed sores \u201c until they progressed to the worst possible stage\u201d.<\/p>\n
While bed bound Mr Nemes began making financial investments that Golem thought were rash and jeopardising the family\u2019s finances so he confiscated his phone. <\/p>\n
From that point on Mr Nemes was solely reliant on those in the home for his case the court heard.<\/p>\n
In mid February 2022 Golem assumed the role of sole carer for Mr Nemes who shortly after entered a coma and died possibly from the sepsis that had formed from the bed sores the court heard. <\/p>\n
Barrister Martin Longhurst said the case was \u201chorrifying and shocking\u201d and could only be understood in terms of his client\u2019s cognitive impairments thanks to childhood injury and worry about how his mother would deal with the death.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s not alleged that my client gained from this,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s not a case of animosity.<\/p>\n
\u201cMr Nemes was my client\u2019s best friend. He was his only real adult relationship. He was a father figure to my client.\u201d <\/p>\n
Justice Treston said the interference of a corpse was among the worst of its kind and the circumstances heinous.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere is some explanation because of your cognitive impairment \u2026 but none of those features go to explain the depth of the deception which he engaged in even before the deceased\u2019s death,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe sheer length of time that the body was left to decompose is greatly disturbing. The deceased\u2019s family was totally deprived of the opportunity of ever seeing their loved one before he was laid to rest.\u201d <\/p>\n
Golem was sentenced to five years for manslaughter and four years for interference with a corpse to apply cumulatively. He will be eligible for parole next month with time already served.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A wife slept next to her dead husband\u2019s rotting corpse in what\u2019s been compared to a \u201chorror 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