Killer’s shocking act after he stabbed two girls in a Sydney hotel room murder

A Sydney man who stabbed two teenage girls, one fatally, in a hotel room was playing jazz music and singing a song after attacking them.

Kristian Kovaleff, 21, assaulted the two girls, who were best friends, at the Hotel Parramatta in December 2020. You cannot be identified for legal reasons.

He has pleaded guilty to one count of murder and one assault with intent to cause grievous bodily harm.

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Kovaleff faced a sentencing hearing in NSW High Court on Wednesday, where he admitted he had been contemplating killing one of the girls for a month before the incident.

About a week before the murder, he admitted planning to kill one of the girls, but said, “I didn’t have the guts to do it.”

Then he found out that the two girls would get a hotel room a week later.

“It gave me more time to really have the courage to commit murder,” he said.

On the day of the incident, Kovaleff went to Bunnings and bought rope, garbage bags, and a handsaw. He also had duct tape and a screwdriver in a bag in his car that day.

He had pawned his phone a month before the incident to get money to pay for those supplies, the court heard.

After the attack, Kovaleff turned on a TV, played jazz music, and told the court, “I was trying to distract myself and calm down.”

He also sang his favorite song “I’m a bomb”.

He told the court he performed CPR on one of the girls who later died, but put off calling an ambulance because he was “afraid of being caught.”

Before calling an ambulance, Kovaleff called his father, who suggested that he throw himself up.

He called emergency services two hours later after leaving the room, but hung up because he was “paranoid.”

The emergency services then called him back and “I told them they were going to die in room 111,” the court heard.

During the inquest, Kovaleff collapsed while apologizing for the attack.

“I am sorry that I have ruined the lives of so many people,” the court heard.

“It makes me sick. I deeply regret it.

“She didn’t deserve it,” he said, breaking down in court.

“How can we survive”

On the day of the murder, the girls had attended a school celebration after receiving their ATAR results.

The murder victim was also just days away from celebrating her 18th birthday and weeks away from college. She had met Kovaleff only once before.

The girls had planned to go to the victim’s favorite restaurant that night – but they never made it.

In a victim impact statement read to the court, the murder victim’s family said they had been robbed of their happiness.

“Her beautiful life was just beginning,” the victim’s parents said in a statement read by their daughter.

“How can we go on living?”

After being notified of her death in the middle of the night, the family was not able to see their daughter’s body until days later in the Coroner’s Court.

She was then buried and cremated.

Her family kept her ashes at home – her father carried his favorite child around in an urn before her funeral six months ago.

They now visit her grave three times a week and on holidays.

The family described being diagnosed with depression and anxiety after their daughter’s murder.

“I can’t sleep because I see my little girl’s face in front of me,” the family told the court.

“We remember (her) laughing at the dinner table. We see (them) everywhere.”

One of the victim’s older sisters said what happened was horrific and “(It’s something) I will never forgive.”

Another sister said she blames herself for not being able to protect her younger sister.

“I’m really empty inside… I just want her back,” the court heard.

“Every happy moment I have will be tainted with sadness.

“She was my best friend, confidant and nothing will ever be the same.

“(Your) heartless murder will burn in our minds and souls for the rest of our lives,” she said.

The killer’s lies

Kovaleff, who admitted he had had a fascination with serial killer Ted Bundy since he was 16, agreed his lies after the incident made it difficult for him to keep up with himself.

The year after his arrest, Kovaleff pretended to be mentally ill, the court heard.

Excerpts from clinical definitions of mental illness and developmental disabilities were presented to the court by Kovaleff’s lawyers.

Consulting forensic psychologist Kerri Eagle told the court Kovaleff had shown signs of violent personality disorder, but she stopped diagnosing him with anything.

Kovaleff told Eagle he heard voices telling him to “depopulate the planet,” gave a detailed account of the voices, and told the doctor he tried to revive the victim.

She didn’t believe him and agreed with the Crown’s claim that he had been “faking” symptoms of psychosis and fabricating parts of his report for about 18 months.

Eagle was also unconvinced that Kovaleff had an autism spectrum disorder, but suggested that his actions may have been motivated by a sexual sadism disorder.

The hearing will continue at a later date.

– with AAP