Stepson sentenced for leaving man to rot in bed for 14 months

The immigrant hero, who came to Australia in search of a better life, died while his wife slept next to him and his stepson used a towel to stop the smell.

Yugoslavian-born Tomislav Nemes was found dead, decomposed in his bed, at his home on the Gold Coast in early 2023.

He died 14 months ago, in February 2022, at the age of 69.

The Brisbane Supreme Court was told on Friday how Mr Nemes’ stepson Nikola Golem deceived those around him, including his mother and Mr Nemes’ wife Dragica Nemes, to conceal his stepfather’s death for more than a year.

Golem was charged with murder and tampering with a corpse.

The 51-year-old man pleaded guilty to a charge of tampering with a corpse, as well as the alternative charge of manslaughter, which was accepted by the Crown.

Ms. Nemes was never charged in this matter.

The court was told Golem lied to his mother and Mr Nemes’ family by saying Mr Nemes was being cared for by doctors and nurses and that he was in a coma but eventually recovered.

Prosecutors alleged that Mrs. Nemes slept next to her now-deceased husband of nearly 30 years for months until the odor of his body became too much.

The smell had become so unbearable that the Golem lined the doorframe with towels, preventing the smell from permeating the rest of the house.

Despite this, the court was told Ms Nemes thought the odor was a side effect of herbal medicine, which removed toxins from the body.

Mr. Nemes’s upper body was so mummified that his face was no longer recognizable.

The retired businessman’s lower part had rotted and turned into the mattress underneath him; his body was infested with insects and his surroundings were littered with animal droppings.

The bones in his right hand were revealed.

The court was told that Mr Nemes and his wife, who are both Jehovah’s Witnesses, opposed Western medicine despite the man’s numerous illnesses, including diabetes.

Later in 2021, he suffered a severe decline, becoming bedridden and dependent on his wife and stepson for care.

Crown prosecutor Stephanie Gallagher said Mr Nemes was underfed and pain relieved, his medical needs were ignored, he received no support from doctors, he suffered serious bedsores and possibly sepsis at the end of his life.

Although the cause of death was unknown, Ms Gallagher said Golem’s actions had hastened the death of an already ill man, adding that Golem then chose to hide the death from his “mentally fragile” mother.

A series of photographs submitted by Golem to the court revealed the severity of his bedsores; Ms Gallagher, who sent the photos, also showed that she was aware of the risk of Golem’s death but did nothing.

Ms. Gallagher also stated that Golem confiscated Mr. Nemes’ phone sometime before his death because he believed his stepfather was spending the family money on poor financial investments.

The tragedy of girls fighting for their fathers revealed

The court was told Mr Nemes was only found thanks to his daughter from a previous marriage, Suzanna Beljanksi, who lived out of state and had limited contact with him in the years leading up to his death.

Ms Beljanski said she last spoke to her father in 2019 and told the court their connection was “causing problems for him at home”.

Alarm bells rang for Ms. Beljanski and her sister, Elizabeth Marzano, when they learned that none of Mr. Nemes’ friends or family had heard from him in months.

Ms Beljanski, who was on a family holiday on the Gold Coast, wanted to see her father and when she was not allowed into the house by Golem and Ms Nemes, she called hospitals, called the police and begged them to complete health checks.

Four days later, he successfully pleaded with a police officer to climb over the fence and find his father, after police told him he “had his answer and he had to go.”

In her statement to the court, Ms. Beljanski said, “I came closer to saving my father than the people who lived one wall away from him.”

“There are no words, either in English or in my father’s own language, for what it meant to hide your father in his bed for 14 months while you searched for him,” Ms. Beljanski said.

“I’ve never experienced anything like it and I’ve never been the same since.

“His daughters were kept away from him, he had no voice of his own, and the sounds around him were used to keep the outside world out.

“He lost his security in his own home, he lost his dignity.

“It was a long and humiliating loss in a home where everything that made someone human was living, eating, sleeping with two other adults.

Ms. Marzano said her father’s treatment did not “forget” him.

Speaking in court, the woman said: “When I think of my father today, the first image that comes to my mind is no longer the wonderful life he lived, but the way he died.”

“It intervenes in everyday moments when I least expect it.”

Lawyer says client’s actions are ‘inexplicable’

Lawyer Martin Longhurst said Golem suffered from a low IQ and mental disability after being run over by a lawn mower as a young child.

Golem was brought into the courtroom in a wheelchair, wearing a padded helmet because part of his skull was removed when a shunt was placed on his brain before his arrest.

Mr Longhurst said Golem also suffered seizures as a side effect of the shunt.

He told the court the murder was “not a case of hostility” and there was no suggestion that Golem had profited from Mr Nemes’ death.

He noted that the mentally disabled Golem tried to fulfill his stepfather’s wish to stay away from Western medicine, but was let down in trying to assuage his mother’s concerns, which led Mr. Nemes to lie about the medical care he received.

Mr Longhurst agreed that Golem’s actions after Mr Nemes’ death were “distinctly inexplicable” and that he appeared “very agitated”.

The court heard Golem told a psychologist he was worried he would get in trouble if he told people his stepfather was dead, so he continued to lie and take care of him as if he were alive.

The legacy and life of Tomislav Nemes

Mr. Nemes’s daughters described their father as a hard-working, caring and devoted family man.

“If we knew the truth, we could move heaven and earth,” Ms. Marzano told the court.

“My father is not forgotten”

The women told the court that Mr Nemes immigrated to Australia from the former Yugoslavia, now Croatia, as a young boy with almost nothing to his name.

According to his family, he became a successful businessman and always made a point of helping his new immigrant friends in Australia.

“He understood how difficult it was to start over in a new country,” Ms. Marzano said.

“Even today, decades later, people still approach our family and tell us that their life in Australia started because their father gave them a chance.

“Helping others was part of who he was.”

Music filled the family home, and each daughter recounted treasured memories of their father singing Elvis Presley and Yugoslavian folk songs in their childhood.

“It wasn’t the last time I got to sing to him, as he told me throughout my childhood,” Ms. Marzano said.

The court heard Mr Nemes had acted as Golem’s father figure and friend for nearly 30 years.

His daughters said Mr. Nemes took Golem to himself, carrying him up stairs and pushing his wheelchair when necessary.

“He trusted that Nik needed his help and he gave it without hesitation,” Ms. Marzano said.

left to the community

Judge Rebecca Treston said Golem’s actions, especially after Mr Nemes’ untimely death, were “really difficult to understand”.

“There is no evidence to suggest that what you did was wrong,” he said.

“He was desperate to get his own help.

“He was completely left to rot.”

He ordered Golem to be sentenced to nine years in prison and to be released on parole on August 21, 2026.

The two years and 11 months spent in pre-sentence detention will count towards his sentence.