{"id":76092,"date":"2026-08-20T02:00:08","date_gmt":"2026-08-20T02:00:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/76092\/"},"modified":"2026-08-20T02:00:08","modified_gmt":"2026-08-20T02:00:08","slug":"family-tells-killer-to-rot-in-hell-at-sentencing-over-death-of-melbourne-grandmother-lolene-whitehand","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/76092\/","title":{"rendered":"Family tells killer to ‘rot in hell’ at sentencing over death of Melbourne grandmother Lolene Whitehand"},"content":{"rendered":"

A remorseless woman who suffocated a grandmother and dumped her body in a Melbourne river has been told to “rot in hell” by the victim’s family.<\/p>\n

Milena Bogojevska, 51, struck a deal with prosecutors to plead guilty to the manslaughter<\/a> of 85-year-old Lolene Whitehand, whose bound body was found partially wrapped in plastic in the Maribyrnong River in July 2024.<\/p>\n

Bogojevska, Ms Whitehand’s neighbour, was initially charged with murder but struck a deal with prosecutors to plead guilty to the lesser charge of manslaughter.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Milena Bogojevska has been sentenced over the manslaughter of her neighbour. (Facebook)<\/p>\n

On Thursday she was sentenced to a maximum of eight years’ jail in the Supreme Court.<\/p>\n

At the end of the hearing Ms Whitehand’s daughter told her, “may you rot in hell.”<\/p>\n

“You too,” the killer replied.<\/p>\n

With time already served, Bogojevska could walk free on parole in four years’ time.<\/p>\n

In sentencing, Justice Jacinta Forbes said Ms Whitehand’s death had devastated her family and neighbours who regarded her like an extended family member.<\/p>\n

“She would have given us her last dollar if she had to,” neighbour Kirraly Schumann said earlier this year.<\/p>\n

Bogojevska had shown no remorse since the killing, the judge said, nor given an explanation for why she attacked Ms Whitehand.<\/p>\n

“Your acts are unexplained and inexplicable,” she said.<\/p>\n

“The loss of her life and the grief caused by your act is immeasurable.”\"An<\/p>\n

Relatives said the death of Lolene Whitehand, 85, had devastated her family and neighbours. (Supplied)<\/p>\n

The court heard a neighbour saw Ms Whitehand entering Bogojevska’s home, two doors down from her own in West Footscray.<\/p>\n

Once inside, a visiting Ms Whitehand was assaulted and suffocated with a tea towel, causing her death.<\/p>\n

Bogojevska’s 15-year-old son was in a nearby room but was wearing headphones and was oblivious to the attack, the court heard.<\/p>\n

Killer went on spending spree after fatal assault<\/p>\n

Justice Forbes said the prosecution had accepted that Bogojevska did not intend to kill the elderly woman, despite packing a tea towel down her throat. The timing of other injuries inflicted on Ms Whitehand was unclear, the court heard.<\/p>\n

In June, Bogajevska’s defence lawyer said Ms Whitehand’s death was an “unintended consequence” of the assault, which she described as “spontaneous”.<\/p>\n

On the night of the manslaughter, Bogojevska put Ms Whitehand’s body in her car, drove to the Maribyrnong River and pushed it into the water.<\/p>\n

A fisherman discovered the body two days later.<\/p>\n

\"police<\/p>\n

Lolene Whitehand’s body was found in the Maribyrnong River near Flemington Racecourse. (ABC News: Mikaela Ortolan)<\/p>\n

Bogojevska spent more than $4,000 of Ms Whitehand’s stolen money on items including shoes, an iPad and a microwave, and attempted to steal a trolley of goods from Coles in the days that followed.<\/p>\n

She was arrested after Ms Whitehand’s belongings were found in her home.<\/p>\n

Bogojevska initially told police she was “more than 100 per cent” certain she was not responsible.<\/p>\n

Justice Forbes said Bogojevska had endured a difficult upbringing, violent relationships and currently needed a kidney transplant. She is on dialysis three times a week.<\/p>\n

Bogojevska’s eight-year sentence for manslaughter included a six-year non-parole period.<\/p>\n

The killer has already spent 755 days in custody, meaning her earliest parole date could be in July 2030.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A remorseless woman who suffocated a grandmother and dumped her body in a Melbourne river has been told…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":76093,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[1109,29840,6628,260,112553,2770,12364],"class_list":["post-76092","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-melbourne","tag-court","tag-lolene-whitehand","tag-manslaughter","tag-melbourne","tag-milena-bogojevska","tag-murder","tag-sentence"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/76092","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=76092"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/76092\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/76093"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=76092"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=76092"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=76092"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}