TRANSCRIPT
A huge reward awaits anyone with information about the unsolved murder case of a prominent member of Sydney's Serbian community that happened almost 40 years ago.
New South Wales Police is offering a $500,000 reward for information that leads to the arrest and conviction of the person or persons responsible for the cold case murder of Radojko Djordjevic.
Mr Djordjevic was reported missing by his wife when he failed to meet her and their children in Canberra for the Bojic church festival on January 26th, 1985.
His body was found five days later on the 31st of January, 1985, in bushland off South Marulan Road at Marulan in the Southern Highlands.
Detective Acting Superintendent Virginia Gorman says his murder may have had a political basis.
"As a prominent member of Western Sydney’s Serbian community, he was president of the Free Serbian Orthodox church and president of the Old Toongabbie branch of the Liberal Partry, and police believe the murder may have been a political motivation to his murder. "
Mr Djordjevic was born in 1937 and was a child during World War II who later emigrated to Australia.
At the time of his murder, Yugoslavia - incorporating present-day Croatia, Serbia and other Balkan states - was in the process of fragmentation, and conflicts within the Australian Serbian community were not uncommon.
Homicide Squad Commander, Detective Acting Superintendent Virginia Gorman, says Mr Djordjevic was involved with power struggles that may have led to his murder.
"The investigations at the time, and subsequently by the unsolved homicide units, we indicate that there were political power struggles within Serbian organisations in New South Wales. Mr Djordjevic was a prominent member of that community and there was a degree of conflict within those organisations about basically control and direction of those organisations."
In 2003, homicide detectives under Strike Force Wirrah, arrested and charged a now-dead 49-year-old man with the murder; however, he was later acquitted.
Virginia Gorman says although it was many years ago, detectives have not given up on finding those responsible.
She believes the passage of time since the internal conflict that may have led to his death, will encourage new witnesses to come forward.
"It’s an unsolved matter 39 years since this occurred members of the family getting older, members of the public who might have information about this are also getting older. It's also a long time since then, so at a time like now you offer reward might be the time when we're really a long way distance from those internal conflicts that maybe people will now be happier to talk about what was going on at the time and who may have been involved or any information that would relate to this. No matter how small it is. it's very important. Today in a bid to give his family some answers. We're appealing to anyone who may have information to come forward to police and as a reminder that information can be provided anonymously."
Mr Djordevic’s daughter, Gana Djordjevic, says she hopes the reward may inspire anyone with knowledge to come forward.
"I had just turned 21 when our father, was brutally bashed and then shot three times – my brother Dragan was 19, Milan was 13 and Miladin was 10. I am 60 now, and we are desperately still seeking closure to the continuous grieving, suffering and insecurity caused by my father’s death. An arrest would mean that our father didn’t die for nothing."
