Bitter row erupts over body of footy coach who fell to his death from a five-star Bali hotel as his fiancee and family fight in court over his remains – and she’s locked out of his funeral

EXCLUSIVE

A football coach who died in a luxury hotel in Bali in January was only buried last week after a bitter court battle over his body between his new fiancée and his family.

Zoran Vidovic, 53, fell from the top-floor restaurant terrace of the five-star Apurva Kempinski Hotel in Nusa Dua to a garden bed eight meters below on January 28.

His fiancée, criminal lawyer Zagi Kozarov, 50, desperately tried to cling to him as he teetered on the edge before witnessing his horrific fall.

The father-of-two later died in hospital from his injuries.

Mr Vidovic, a popular cricketer, football coach and community figure in Geelong, was only laid to rest in a private ceremony on Friday, March 15 – more than 45 days after his tragic death.

It has since emerged that part of the reason for the delay was due to a struggle over his body after the coroner initially appointed Ms Kozarov as custodian of his remains.

‘The coroner gave me his body, I didn’t apply for it. And then his daughter objected and it was ugly,” Ms Kozarov told Daily Mail Australia.

Daily Mail Australia has contacted the daughter in question for comment.

It is understood Ms Kozarov, who was barred by Mr Vidovic’s family from attending his memorial service, was also not allowed to visit his body before it was released by the coroner.

‘I don’t want it to be a tit for tat. I want to have decorum. I am a woman of integrity and I will remain so,” Ms. Korazov said.

She added: “I have to accept what the coroner says if I don’t accept it, it will only delay Zoran’s funeral.

“I could have taken it to the Supreme Court, but I want him buried.

“I’m being portrayed a certain way by the Geelong community without them even knowing me, I can’t even defend myself.

‘I could easily go for defamation, but I don’t want that. I need to heal and I need to grieve.”

But Ms Kozarov’s attempts to mourn were thwarted by council pen pushers, who rejected her application for a plaque in memory of her partner of almost five years.

Previously, the municipality allowed plaques for ‘people of special significance’.

But in December 2023, they closed submissions for new plaques.

‘The rules changed in December and Zoran died in January. “I asked for it pretty much as soon as I got home because I knew I wasn’t allowed to go to the funeral and everything else,” Ms. Kozarov said.

“I wanted something to commemorate him and he walked along Eastern Beach every day and I wanted this to be my way of saying goodbye.

“I feel like no matter what I do, my doors always close.”

The Melbourne-based lawyer then escalated her request to the office of Trent Sullivan, the mayor of the City of Greater Geelong.

She even offered to pay for the plaque and its upkeep out of her own pocket.

But she later received a rejection from the council’s public art team.

“I am shocked by the council,” Ms. Kozarov said.

“The whole of Geelong is saddened by this man. Everyone mourns him.’

“How can the mayor deny a man a plaque after all he has done for Geelong and after so many people have mourned him? Is it because I asked for it? Yes of course.’

Daily Mail Australia approached the Geelong mayor’s office for comment.

Ms. Kozarov said she has become isolated in the aftermath of the tragedy.

“I was left out of everything and I’m his fiancée,” she said.

“The family alienated me, they didn’t approve of our relationship.”

She revealed that she held her own memorial for Mr Vidovic, where she lit candles and released pigeons.

“I had my own memorial with my family and children in church and I released doves for his soul,” Ms. Kozarov said.

She also has a shrine to her ex-lover in her home with a religious lamp and a black and white photo of the two of them in a loving embrace.

The couple got engaged on December 9 and were on a three-week holiday to Bali when disaster struck.

Ms Kozarov previously told Daily Mail Australia about her fight to save Mr Vidovic.

She revealed how she begged him to think of their future together and his daughters as he stood precariously on the wrong side of a glass barrier on the hotel’s restaurant terrace.

Ms Kozarov grabbed his T-shirt in an attempt to pull him to safety but was unable to hold on before he fell backwards and plunged to his death.

“I looked him in the eye and told him I loved him and tried to pull him back,” she cried as she relived the harrowing incident.

“But I’m only six feet tall – I couldn’t pull it over the glass barrier.

‘I was surrounded by about fifteen to twenty men, but they did nothing. They just talked on their walkie-talkies.

‘They could have saved him, but no one did anything to help me. No one tried to get him to safety.”

The tragedy occurred just three weeks after Mr Vidovic last saw his family at his daughter Bella’s 21st birthday party, two nights before flying to Bali with Ms Kozarov.

Mr Vidovic was taken to hospital by hotel staff in the back of a car, where he later died.

His body was flown back to Australia after the January 28 tragedy and a service was held in his memory at the GHMBA Stadium in his hometown of Geelong, Victoria, on February 23.

The packed ceremony was heard by friends and family, including Mr Vidovic’s daughters, Bella, 21, and Lulu, 18, but Ms Kozarov’s name was never even mentioned.

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