Fatal Beating in Brooklyn for Wife's Lover

A 34 year old man was beaten to death outside his own factory.

Crime: Murder

Occurred: Sunday, 30 October 2011

Where: 19 Industry Park Drive, Brooklyn

Sentenced: 5 April 2013

Convicted: Mark Budimir

Victim: Dino Moresco

What happened?
Jana, Mark's wife, ran a nursery in Footscray called "Garden Door".  She purchased garden ornaments from Dino, who ran a manufacturing business in Brooklyn.  Jana began a sexual affair with him the day after he, her, and Mark had gone out together to celebrate her birthday in August 2011.  At this stage, Mark was unaware of the relationship between his wife and her garden ornament supplier.

In September 2011, after months of Jana threatening to leave the marriage, she left for a weekend away with Dino, while Mark stayed at home with the kids. Following the weekend, Mark learned from a friend that she had attended a nightclub with Dino. He also suspected Dino had joined her in Sydney the following night. Upon her return, Mark discovered racy text messages on her phone, and he realised that Dino and Jana were more than business associates.

A few days later, Mark drove over to Dino's factory in Brooklyn and threatened that if Dino did not leave Jana alone, Mark would put him on the "front page of the newspapers".


From left to right: Mark, Jana and Dino in happier times (source).

Soon afterwards, Jana told Mark to leave the matrimonial home because the marriage was over. In response, Mark slapped Jana across the face several times and then locked her in the bedroom.  Police were called, and Jana later applied for an intervention order. Mark was also convicted for false imprisonment and assault in relation to the bedroom incident, for which he received a suspended sentence.

On Sunday, 30 October, Mark drove around to his wife's house to find her and Dino loading some of Mark's belongings into a truck. Outraged, he then drove to Dino's factory and was spotted wearing gloves and running about suspiciously to avoid detection. A witness phoned Dino to alert him that someone behaving oddly was at the factory.

Some time later, Dino arrived at his factory to investigate. Mark caught him by the jumper and wrestled with him on the ground. Mark was able to struggle free and stood up, picking Dino up in the air and then throwing him down on the ground, where he landed on his head. Blood came out of his mouth. Mark then stood on Dino's chest several times, before loading him into his own truck and driving out to an abandoned industrial site.

He fetched some petrol from his parent's house nearby and returned, shoving Dino head first into a wheelie bin and setting it on fire.

While Dino's corpse burned, Mark drove off to buy a kebab and did a quick drive by on the fire before zooming off to New South Wales. He rang his wife, abusing her for her disloyalty before telling her that he had gotten rid of Dino so that Jana could return to him.  He also reportedly rang police and told them that he would only turn himself in after taking a holiday to Northern Australia (where and Jana had once enjoyed a nice vacation). Police were able to trace his location from his mobile phone, and arrested him in Broken Hill.

Victim's background

Dino's cousin and mother attended Court (source).

Dino was 34 when he was killed.  He reportedly ran his manufacturing business very successfully and was planning to soon retire.

Jana said in her victim impact statement, "The crime ended my physical relationship with Dino, but the emotional relationship continues. I cannot stop loving Dino."

His parents visit his grave every day.

Convicted's background
Mark was almost 41 at the time of the murder.  He met Jana at age 19, his first serious girlfriend, and they were married in their early twenties.   They had four children, who are now aged from 8 to 15.

The judge commented that Mark had lived a "largely blameless and in many respects admirable life" as a husband, father and small business owner.

Mark had former convictions of burglary, criminal damage and theft dating back to 1996 (occurring in the context of recovering a debt), as well as the conviction noted above for false imprisonment and intentionally causing injury to Jana when she asked him to leave in September 2011.

Mark also suffers from hepatitis C.

Outcome of trial: Mark pleaded not guilty to murder, but a jury of his peers found otherwise.  The judge commented on Mark's "vehement attack" pursued in cross-examination against Jana during the trial, suggesting that Mark blamed Jana as the "cause of the evil" in relation to the murder.

Sentence: 16 years before eligible for parole (18 years max), with over a year and a half already served while on remand.

You can read the judgment here.  News articles are available here, here and here.

Mark escorted out of the Court following sentencing (source).