Housemate, 44, who killed a woman, 43, was RAPED and beaten with a baseball bat as payback

  • A woman who killed her housemate was raped and beaten with a baseball bat
  • Nicole Boroviak, 44, pleaded guilty to strangling and suffocating her housemate
  • Ms Boroviak who killed her housemate, 43, had her body hidden for two years 

By Australian Associated Press

Published: 01:18 EDT, 18 October 2018 | Updated: 01:20 EDT, 18 October 2018

Joanne Martell (pictured) was killed by her housemate Nicole Boroviak in early 2015

Joanne Martell (pictured) was killed by her housemate Nicole Boroviak in early 2015

The family of a woman killed by her housemate have told a Melbourne court of their grief at losing a 'beautiful soul' who was 'dumped at the beach like a bag of unwanted rubbish'.

Nicole Boroviak, 44, pleaded guilty to the manslaughter of 43-year-old Joanne Martell, who died from strangulation or suffocation on January 18, 2015, before her body was dumped in thick scrub at Sorrento.

Almost a year later, Boroviak was raped and beaten with a baseball bat to all parts of her body including her head in a 'payback' assault, a Supreme Court plea hearing was told on Thursday.

She was then wrapped in carpet and told she was going to be thrown off a cliff.

One of the alleged offenders remains at large. 

The court was told Ms Martell had a 'chaotic lifestyle' and shared a house on the Mornington Peninsula with three others, including Boroviak. 

She had come to the shared house, with her dog Biscuit, after breaking up with her partner after he allegedly assaulted her.

On the afternoon of her death, Boroviak - who had earlier smoked ice - argued with Ms Martell, possibly about the victim using her drugs.    

'The accused, a much larger and more powerful person than Ms Martell, jumped on top of her,' prosecutor Ray Gibson said.

Boroviak put one hand to Ms Martell's mouth and another to her neck, letting go to find her unresponsive.

She told a witness, fellow housemate Renee Desmond, 'if you ever breathe a word of this, I will f***ing kill you'.

Boroviak then scrubbed Ms Martell's body with bleach and got her son's help to drag her up a walking track at Sorrento.

Ms Martell's body was hidden and then discovered after two years in Diamond Bay, Sorrento 

Ms Martell's body was hidden and then discovered after two years in Diamond Bay, Sorrento 

The body lay undiscovered for two years.

'It was my worst nightmare come true,' Ms Martell's sister, Sharon Bennet, told the court on Thursday.

'The horror of her final moments haunts me.

'Dumped at the beach like a bag of unwanted rubbish.'

Defence barrister Hayden Rattray said Boroviak didn't intend to kill Ms Martell and the attack was a 'spontaneous, single act of violence' that wasn't premeditated.

The hearing continues.

 

Advertisement

Housemate, 44, who killed a woman, 43, was RAPED and beaten with a baseball bat as payback

Most watched News videos

Sorry we are not currently accepting comments on this article.