![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/3b8277785a54a577fbabec9a53eb485d.jpeg\")
<\/p>\nOn November 14, 2024, Vicky Van Aken baked cupcakes for her next door neighbour Milorad “Mick” Zaric.<\/p>\n
That night he texted her, describing the baked goods as “amazing”.<\/p>\n
Two days later, Zaric stabbed Ms Van Aken to death at her front door in a drug-fuelled rage.<\/p>\n
Details of the shocking murder were aired in Victoria’s Supreme Court on Tuesday, as the victim’s supporters paid tribute to a loving, devoted mother with a heart of gold.<\/p>\n
“She was one in a million,” her heartbroken sister Mary Kadis said.<\/p>\n
The court heard Zaric had lived next door to Ms Van Aken for two decades in Bayswater, in Melbourne’s outer east.<\/p>\n
He was a regular cannabis user but had taken ketamine for the first time in the days leading up to the killing on the morning of November 16, 2024.<\/p>\n
Prosecutor Erin Ramsay said Zaric’s son and girlfriend had become concerned by Zaric’s strange behaviour after taking ketamine.<\/p>\n
She said Zaric pushed his son down the stairs, killed a pet turtle and smashed a television.<\/p>\n
Later, once Zaric’s girlfriend and son thought he had calmed down, Zaric tried to attack the boy with a knife, the court heard.<\/p>\n
Ms Ramsay said Zaric’s son fled to Ms Van Aken’s home.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Prosecutors said Milorad “Mick” Zaric’s son and girlfriend had become concerned by his strange behaviour after taking ketamine. (ABC News: Anita Lester)<\/p>\n
The prosecutor said Ms Van Aken’s son witnessed her opening the door to Zaric.\u00a0<\/p>\n
He said, “Welcome home Vicky”, and then repeatedly stabbed her, the court heard.<\/p>\n
Ms Van Aken’s son fought off Zaric and put him in a headlock, enabling his younger brother to flee.<\/p>\n
When Zaric was arrested, he told police: “I’ve had a bunch of ket[amine].”<\/p>\n
“Where’s the knife?” an officer asked.<\/p>\n
“In her neck,” he replied.<\/p>\n
Zaric later said he had been “microdosing” on ketamine and snorting the drug every 40 minutes.<\/p>\n
“It was like I was possessed or something,” he said.<\/p>\n
On Tuesday, Zaric sat expressionless in the court dock, surrounded by more than 50 of Ms Van Aken’s loved ones in the public gallery.<\/p>\n
Her photo was displayed in the courtroom as victim impact statements were read out, describing how the murder had brought on heartbreak, shock, anger and a profound sense of loss.<\/p>\n
Support services:<\/p>\n
If you need help immediately, call emergency services on triple-0.<\/p>\n
Defence lawyers successfully challenged some sections being read in open court, where Zaric was to be described as a “murderous monster” who was “eternally condemned to hell”.<\/p>\n
“A courtroom is a place where respect is shown to all before it \u2014 victims, witnesses and the person in the dock,” defence barrister Ruth Shann SC said.<\/p>\n
Sofia Apostolopoulos, Ms Van Aken’s mother, said that her daughter’s life mattered and she deserved to watch her children grow up.<\/p>\n
“I wish this was all just a bad nightmare,” she said.<\/p>\n
Ms Van Aken was described as the kind of person who would help anyone in need by her sister, Ms Kadis.<\/p>\n
“She was all about family and full of love for everyone,” Ms Kadis said.<\/p>\n
Ms Kadis said the killer had made “excuses” for his actions, but the blame ultimately lay with him because he chose to take drugs.<\/p>\n
“This was a result of the life he chose,” she said.<\/p>\n
![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/f3ef49ff22186b0a2eceff59b3d9dc92.jpeg\")
<\/p>\n
Graphic details of the murder were aired in Victoria’s Supreme Court on Tuesday, as the victim’s supporters paid tribute to the devoted mother. (ABC News: Shane Willner-Browne)<\/p>\n
Zaric’s son also submitted a statement and said Ms Van Aken’s death was “devastating”.<\/p>\n
He described the murder as an act of betrayal carried out by his father.<\/p>\n
“The person I needed most was the person who hurt me the most. That is something I will never forget,” he said.<\/p>\n
Zaric, who has pleaded guilty to murder, is yet to be sentenced.<\/p>\n
The hearing, before Justice Jacinta Forbes, continues.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"On November 14, 2024, Vicky Van Aken baked cupcakes for her next door neighbour Milorad “Mick” Zaric. That…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":814052,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[388888,43,388887,2968,44,1049,41,39,42,40,388889],"class_list":["post-814051","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-bayswater","tag-headlines","tag-milorad-zaric","tag-murder","tag-news","tag-supreme-court","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories","tag-vicky-van-aken"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/814051","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=814051"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/814051\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/814052"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=814051"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=814051"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=814051"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}