A killer told his young daughter to “say hello” to her mother’s lifeless body an hour after he ambushed and violently murdered her in her garage.
Victorian mother Kaliopi Roumeliotis had just gotten out of her car on November 30, 2022, when Joe Lo Bianco attacked her with a metal car ramp, repeatedly hitting her in the head and neck.
He left her body on the garage floor, placed the murder weapon under her head to simulate an accidental death, before removing and hiding her bloody clothes.
Lo Bianco then went next door to chat with his in-laws for nearly an hour while waiting for his daughter to be dropped off after a friend’s birthday party.
When the girl arrived, she asked for her mother and suggested she might be in the garage, so Lo Bianco told her daughter to go say hello.
The young woman, identified in court under the pseudonym Sally, found her mother’s body with blood covering the floor, the car and the walls.
Sally ran next door, calling for help from her aunt and uncle, who arrived and began performing CPR while Lo Bianco called triple zero.
Paramedics confirmed that Ms Roumeliotis was already dead.
Kaliopi Roumeliotis was murdered by her husband Joe Lo Bianco in November 2022. Pictured is Ms Roumeliotis’ brother Arthur in the Victorian Supreme Court on Wednesday.
Lo Bianco initially told police that his wife must have tripped and fallen, maintaining that he had no involvement in her death as he was in the backyard cleaning out the rabbit enclosure.
The 53-year-old later admitted what happened and pleaded guilty to murder in the Victorian Supreme Court on Wednesday.
He did not look at Ms Roumeliotis’s family and friends who filled the courtroom and kept his head down as 10 victim impact statements, including one from her daughter, were read to the court.
In the statement read by her uncle Arthur Roumeliotis, the girl said Lo Bianco had left her with scars that would never heal and that she no longer wanted him in her life.
“My mother’s love was like being held in a hug forever – you made her let go,” the statement read.
Mr Roumeliotis said he was completely devastated by his sister’s death.
“I miss that she doesn’t get to watch her daughter grow up and guide her through life,” he told the court.
“It’s not fair that he’s no longer with us. He still had so much life to give.”
The court was told Lo Bianco and Ms Roumeliotis had been arguing over money as he had lost his job during the pandemic after failing to receive the COVID-19 vaccine.
They had an argument on the morning of November 30, where Ms. Roumeliotis told Lo Bianco that he needed to bring more money.
He spent three hours that day playing the slot machines while she was at work.
Lo Bianco then murdered his wife when she returned home shortly after 7 p.m.
His plea hearing continues Wednesday afternoon.
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