Ms Apostolopoulos’s family sat in a packed courtroom, wiping away tears throughout Zaric’s sentencing in the Victorian Supreme Court today.<\/p>\n
Support services:<\/p>\n
If you need help immediately, call emergency services on triple-0.<\/p>\n
Justice Jacinta Forbes said the November 2024 attack was serious, and his actions took a life and irrevocably changed many others, as evidenced in the 24 victim impact statements from family, friends, neighbours and colleagues.<\/p>\n
“This reflected the breadth of love Ms Apostolopoulos brought and the loss occasioned by her death,” she said.<\/p>\n
But Justice Forbes took into consideration Zaric’s reduced moral culpability due to his ketamine-induced psychosis, deep remorse, previous good character and early guilty pleas as reasons for her to set a sentence below the standard 25 years.<\/p>\n
She set a head sentence of 21 years and five months and a non-parole period of 14 years and six months.<\/p>\n
Zaric, 48, had been chasing his teenage son on the morning of November 16 after abusing ketamine, cannabis and alcohol the day before.<\/p>\n
![\"Man](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/3b8277785a54a577fbabec9a53eb485d.jpeg\")
<\/p>\n
An earlier court sketch of Milorad Zaric, who told police he had taken ketamine before the fatal attack. (ABC News: Anita Lester)<\/p>\n
After the father punched his son, pushed the boy down the stairs and stomped on his head, the then-15-year-old boy sought refuge in Ms Apostolopoulos’s home next door.<\/p>\n
The confused neighbour let the boy inside and shut the door again.<\/p>\n
When Zaric would not stop banging on it, she opened it and heard her killer chillingly utter: “Welcome home, Vicki.”<\/p>\n
Zaric then retrieved a knife from his waistband and plunged it into her neck, stomach and shoulder in a frenzied attack.<\/p>\n
The Bayswater woman’s own son, aged 16, grabbed Zaric in a chokehold and ordered his 12-year-old brother out of the house.<\/p>\n
Zaric repeatedly punched the teen and slammed him against a wall, but the boy only let go to run to safety.<\/p>\n
“You attacked a woman who had no reason to fear you,” the judge said.<\/p>\n
![\"Supreme](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/f3ef49ff22186b0a2eceff59b3d9dc92.jpeg\")
<\/p>\n
In the Victorian Supreme Court, Justice Jacinta Forbes said Milorad Zaric’s actions took a life and irrevocably changed many others. (ABC News: Shane Willner-Browne)<\/p>\n
The victim opened her door to Zaric in a sign of friendship, she said.<\/p>\n
“You stabbed her with no reason, without explanation or warning.”<\/p>\n
When police arrived, he told them he had taken ketamine before growling and calling out for Satan.<\/p>\n
Two days before the murder, Zaric had texted to thank her and praised her “amazing” cupcakes, which she had baked and taken to his house.<\/p>\n
Defence barrister Ruth Shann SC had argued the killer’s crime was out of character and his mind was altered by ketamine.<\/p>\n
‘My daughter was my life’<\/p>\n
Ms Apostolopoulos’s family had earlier called for a life sentence for her drug-addled killer.<\/p>\n
Yesterday, Ms Apostolopoulos’s sister, Mary Kadis, said Zaric’s drug-addled state was no excuse for his actions.<\/p>\n
“The choices leading up to that day were yours,” she said.<\/p>\n
“Did Vicki have a choice that day? No, she didn’t.”<\/p>\n
Ms Apostolopoulos’s mother, Sofia Apostolopoulos, said the grief she carried was beyond words.<\/p>\n
“My daughter was my life,” she said in a statement to the court.<\/p>\n
“Since her death, I have been trapped in a living nightmare I cannot wake up from.”<\/p>\n
Close friend Maria Pantelios described Ms Apostolopoulos as like family.<\/p>\n
“Her presence had a way of lifting others, even in the darkest moments,” she told the court.<\/p>\n
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