Later, his primary-school-aged daughter arrived home and asked Lo Bianco where her mother was. She went looking in the garage and found the body.
In a victim impact statement, read out by the girl’s uncle, Arthur Roumeliotis, the now 12-year-old said the grief of losing her mother was like a shadow always lurking behind.
“My mum’s love was like being in a hug forever. And you made her let go,” she wrote.
“I won’t ever get to be in her aura, sing or dance with her again, joke with her again. What you did has left me with scars that will never heal.”
The court heard the couple met through friends in 1995 and commenced a relationship soon after.
Rogers said that during the pandemic, Lo Bianco declined to be vaccinated and as a result was unable to continue working as a contractor for Australia Post.
While Roumeliotis continued to work as a successful scientist, the court heard Lo Bianco’s job loss and their misalignment in beliefs about coronavirus vaccinations became a source of tension in the family home and placed them under financial strain.
Arthur Roumeliotis spoke of the grief of having to break the news to his elderly parents and of living with the memory of seeing his sister on the floor of the garage as his wife tried to resuscitate her.
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“It pains me to see the distress, anguish, mental and physical toll this has taken on my loving parents,” he said.
“They were full of life and happiness, having made a better life as migrants from Greece in the ’70s, raising their kids [in a] most loving and caring way. They welcomed our friends and partners as their own. Seeing them so sad breaks me.
“It’s not meant to be this way. She still had so much life to live.”
As his sister-in-law attempted to perform CPR on his wife, Lo Bianco paced around the garage acting hysterically but not rendering assistance, maintaining she had tripped and fallen, the court heard.
“This doesn’t happen in the movies, they bring them back. You need to save her, save her like you do in the movies,” he told emergency services as they arrived shortly after 8pm.
However, a shoe impression from a Nike sneaker was later found in blood at the scene, and bloodied clothing was found hidden in the garage and laundry.
Kaliopi Roumeliotis’ body was found by her daughter after she arrived home from school.
Rogers said Lo Bianco eventually confessed to police before pleading guilty in court.
Defence barrister Moya O’Brien said her client appreciated the betrayal of his entire family in his unforgivable act of family violence on his life partner of 27 years.