Kristian Kovaleff,21,pleaded guilty to murder and wounding with intent to cause grievous bodily harm after attacking two 17-year-old girls at the Meriton apartments in Parramatta on December 18,2020. The victims cannot be identified as they were juveniles at the time.
Kristian Kovaleff has been sentenced in the NSW Supreme Court.Facebook
Justice Stephen Rothman sentenced Kovaleff in the NSW Supreme Court on Thursday morning,saying the offences “were more than simply premeditated;they were planned,and the plan was implemented”.
“The loss of a loved one at such a young age is indescribably horrible,” Rothman said. “So too are the injuries inflicted and the effect on the surviving victim.”
According to the agreed facts,the two girls had attended a high school farewell barbecue earlier that day before they were collected from the train station by Kovaleff,who was going to help them check in. Kovaleff knew both of the teenagers,but had only met the deceased once before.
The facts state he had made internet searches including for “tools that can be used as weapons” and for large luggage,and bought duct tape,rope and a hand saw from Bunnings.
“The hand saw was to be used if the victims did not fit into the bag or the boot,” the judge said.
After checking in,Kovaleff took a knife into the girls’ hotel room and hid it under the couch.
As his victims “were readying themselves to go swimming in the pool”,Kovaleff stood in the bathroom doorway watching them. When the deceased was alone,Kovaleff began stabbing her.
The court heard the surviving victim saw Kovaleff stabbing her friend “forcefully and repeatedly to the stomach”.
“As she was being stabbed,the deceased screamed at the offender to stop,” Rothman said.
A 17-year-old girl died following a stabbing at Parramatta,while her friend was critically injured.Nine
The murdered girl was stabbed again in the bedroom,and her friend – who had tried to leave but was told by Kovaleff not to – was stabbed as she guarded the bedroom door.
Kovaleff asked the victim for her phone passcode as she lay dying.
The judge said Kovaleff had appeared upset after he stabbed the wounded victim,and told her he was “sick in the head”. He also sang a song titledI’m a Bomb,including references to “I’m a bomb,and I’m about to blow up” and being a “time bomb and there is no safety”.
Kovaleff,who had lived in Guildford at the time,left the hotel and called his father. He was taken to Parramatta police station in the early hours of the following day,when he was arrested.
The court heard Kovaleff had feigned psychiatric illness for two years in custody and had a “pathological interest” in US serial killer Ted Bundy.
“The motive in this case is elusive,” the judge said.
“It is clear on the evidence before the court ... that the offender does not suffer any psychosis.”
Rothman added:“I do not accept that the offender discloses or has displayed any genuine remorse.”
The murdered girl’s family,,said her heartless killing would “burn in our minds and souls for the rest of our lives”.
“She didn’t even get to use the money my Dad gave her to pay for her dinner that night,” one sister said. “She didn’t make it out of that hotel.”
The judge also imposed a sentence of six years and nine months’ jail for the malicious wounding offence,with a non-parole period of four years and nine months.
Kovaleff will first be eligible for parole in December 2046,when he will be aged 45.
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