- Man killed his wife in Melbourne
- He hit her with a metal car ramp
A killer who lay in wait for his wife to arrive at their garage before killing her with a metal car ramp will spend more than 20 years behind bars.
Joe Lo Bianco appeared in the Supreme Court of Victoria on Thursday and was sentenced to 24 years in prison with a non-parole period of 18 years and six months.
His wife Kaliopi Roumeliotis had just gotten out of her car at their inner-city Melbourne home on November 30, 2022, when Lo Bianco repeatedly hit her on the head and neck with the ramp.
He left her body on the garage floor and placed the murder weapon under her head to stage an accidental death, before removing and hiding his bloody clothes.
Lo Bianco went next door to chat with his in-laws for nearly an hour while he waited for his daughter to be dropped off after a friend’s birthday party.
When the girl arrived, she asked about her mother and suggested she could be in the garage.
Lo Bianco then told his daughter to go inside and see if she was there.
The young girl, named in court by the pseudonym Sally, found her mother’s dead body, with blood covering the floor, car and walls.
Joe Lo Bianco appeared in the Supreme Court of Victoria on Thursday and was sentenced to 24 years in prison with a non-parole period of 18 years and six months
Sally ran to the neighbors and begged for help from her aunt and uncle, who came and started CPR, while Lo Bianco called triple zero.
Paramedics confirmed that Ms Roumeliotis was already dead.
Judge Amanda Fox told the court that no sentence she imposed could make up for Ms Roumeliotis’ “priceless” life.
“She is deeply missed by all who loved her,” she said.
Judge Fox said leading his daughter to the scene of her mother’s body was a ‘highly aggravating aspect of (his) offending’.
She also noted that Lo Bianco’s refusal to be vaccinated against Covid-19 had led to “tensions and arguments” over finances in the time before the murder.
Days before her death, Ms. Roumeliotis told a friend that she was “frustrated” and had “reached saturation point.”
Lo Bianco, who has been in custody since 2022, initially told police that his wife tripped and fell, claiming he had no involvement in her death because he was cleaning a rabbit enclosure in the backyard.
The 53-year-old later admitted what happened and pleaded guilty to murder at the High Court in September.
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