The boyfriend of a Melbourne woman has been arrested after she was found dead in her home by her brother, who went looking for her when he could not make contact.
The family of 35-year-old accountant Nikkita Azzopardi were unable to reach her on Sunday evening after she failed to show up for a family barbecue.
Her brother Shaun said his father went to the house on Reid Street in South Morang in the city’s north last night to check on Ms Azzopardi but no one answered the door.
After several failed attempts to contact Ms. Azzopardi by phone on Monday, her brother drove to the house and confronted her boyfriend, Joel Micallef, who reportedly said she was not feeling well and was sleeping.
“I burst in there and my father and my brother tried to look for her,” Azzopardi told reporters on Monday.
“He barricaded the doors with chairs, but I went up and went through the door and just saw my sister. I can’t get that image out of my head.’
Mr Azzopardi said his younger sister, who had been in a relationship for at least two years, was a gentle soul who would help anyone.
“She would do anything for anyone… she didn’t see the bad in people and always saw the good,” he said.
The boyfriend of Nikkita Azzopardi (pictured), who was found dead in a Melbourne home where her brother found her body, has been arrested
Ms Azzopardi, 35, is pictured with her boyfriend Joel Micallef, 35, who has been arrested
“You think it won’t happen to you, your sister, your brother, but I’m not going to see my sister again.”
The last time Mr Azzopardi saw his sister alive was ten days earlier on his son’s fifteenth birthday, which she had arranged at a karting venue.
“In retrospect, if you knew this was the last time, you would do more, ask more, take pictures,” he said.
“I don’t know my father’s condition, my mother’s condition, my brother’s condition – how do you get past this, how do you get through it?”
Mr Azzopardi said: ‘It doesn’t feel real. I’m trying to stay strong.’
Homicide detectives are still trying to figure out what happened, but arrested Micallef, 33, who will be interviewed in connection with the death.
Victoria Police Acting Senior Sergeant Shaun O’Connell expects investigators to be on the scene well into the night.
“They have both spent time in this house, but investigations are still ongoing in relation to their living arrangements,” Sergeant O’Connell said.
‘The exact nature of their relationship is still under investigation.
“What I can confirm is that the parties know each other and we are not looking for anyone else in connection with this incident.”
The family of Ms Azzopardi (pictured) were unable to contact her on Sunday evening after she failed to show up for a family barbecue
Woman’s shocked brother Shaun Azzopardi speaks to media at the scene after his sister’s death in South Morang, Melbourne
Police confirmed that the man was not an acquaintance.
A neighbor said one detective was moved to tears by the confrontational scene.
“He was crying … other police officers walked around him and hugged him,” Tony Naggiar, 66, told police. Herald Sun. “He couldn’t stop crying.”
Ms Azzopardi’s relatives arrived on the scene on Monday afternoon and the street remains cordoned off.
At least 70 Australian women and 14 children have been killed as a result of murder, manslaughter or neglect in 2024, according to the Red Heart Campaign, which tracks and commemorates deaths across the country.
According to crime statistics, police respond to reports of domestic violence in Victoria every five minutes – for a total of more than 98,000 incidents in the 12 months to June.
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