Vic: Slain woman's family plead for killer to come forward

AAP General News (Australia)
04-16-2004
Vic: Slain woman's family plead for killer to come forward

By Jamie Duncan

MELBOURNE, April 16 AAP - A 12-year-old boy who watched his mother die of gunshot wounds
in his father's arms said today her killer should turn himself in to police.

Martin Pochopien and his father Peter today made an emotional plea for the killer of
33-year-old Chadstone mother Aneta Pochopien to come forward.

Mrs Pochopien was shot in the driveway of her Carramar Street home as she sat in her
car about 5.30am on Wednesday after finishing nightshift at the Silcraft car components
factory an hour earlier.

Martin sobbed as he spoke of his mother.

"I'm very sad ... but she's always my mum," he told a media conference today.

"Just come forward. Say sorry and tell my family why you did this."

Martin said his mother "always had a smile on her face".

"She was beautiful and good looking and she was friends to anyone," he said.

Mr Pochopien said he and his wife loved each other and had worked hard to build their new house.

"We were very very hard-working people, the two of us," he said.

"We just built our dream home.

"We have been working for years to get that and she died in front of that house, in my arms.

"We were happy there, so happy that we had done it."

Mr Pochopien called on her killer to confess.

"Please, come forward and explain. Just explain why," he said.

"Someone killed my loving wife, our loving mother, the best person I've ever known.

"We knew each other from kids and we never spent a day apart.

"Such a loving person. Beautiful, beautiful wife and lady.

"So nice, so open to everyone. It is a great loss to everyone."

The head of the team investigating Mrs Pochopien's murder, Detective Senior Sergeant
Jeff Maher of the Homicide Squad, said police believed they were closing in on the killer.

Det Maher said police knew the make, type and style of the weapon and ammunition used
in the attack and had narrowed the list of suspects substantially.

"I would say the deceased knew her attacker and from what we can glean at the scene
the deceased saw her attacker before she was shot," he said.

"We are following a substantial line of inquiry and we've spoken to a number of people
who are of very great interest to us."

Det Maher said inquiries included investigating Mrs Pochopien's relationships with
her co-workers at Silcraft.

He said forensic evidence collected at the scene, at Silcraft and other locations was
being examined "as a priority".

Det Maher said police had executed search warrants on a number of eastern suburbs addresses
including Silcraft and the Riversdale Golf Club.

He said blackberries at the golf course were being cleared from an area with the help
of club management.

A Crimestoppers informant said someone may have dumped an object from a car at the
club early on Wednesday morning, Det Maher said.

He could not confirm if that car was the light coloured Mitsubishi sedan seen speeding
along Carramar Street at the time of the shooting.

AAP jrd/dk/hu/bwl
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KEYWORD: GUNSHOT NIGHTLEAD

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