William Ton, AAP
The grieving brother of a woman found dead inside a home says he found her body after barging through a door barricaded by a man allegedly known to her.
Emergency services were called to a home in South Morang, Melbourne, about 10am on Monday where they found the woman’s body inside.
The woman, identified as 35-year-old Nikkita Azzopardi by her family, was found dead by her brothers and father after they could not contact her.
Ms Azzopardi’s brother Shaun said his father came by the Reid Street home on Sunday night to check on his daughter, but no one answered the door.
After multiple unsuccessful attempts to contact Ms Azzopardi by phone on Monday, her brother drove to the house and confronted a 33-year-old man, who allegedly told them she was unwell and asleep.
“I barged in there and my father and my brother tried to look for her,” Mr Azzopardi told reporters on Monday.
“He barricaded the doors with chairs but I went upstairs and I went through the door and just saw my sister (dead).”
Mr Azzopardi described his younger sister, who had been in a relationship for at least two years, as a gentle soul who would help anyone.
“She’ll do anything for anyone … she didn’t see the bad in people and always saw the good,” he said.
“You think it’s not going to happen to you, to your sister, your brother, but I’m not going to see my sister again.”
The last time Mr Azzopardi saw his sister alive was at his son’s 15th birthday which she had arranged at a go-karting venue.
“In hindsight, if you knew it was the last time, you’d be doing more, you’d be asking more, you’d be taking pictures,” he said.
“I don’t know my father’s state, my mum’s state, my brother’s state – how do you move past this, how do you get through it?”
Homicide detectives are still piecing together what happened, but arrested the 33-year-old man who will be interviewed in relation to the death.
Victoria Police Acting Senior Sergeant Shaun O’Connell expects investigators will be on scene well into the night.
“They both spent time at this house but in relation to their living arrangements, investigations are still ongoing,” Sgt O’Connell told reporters on Monday.
“The exact nature of their relationship is still under investigation.
“What I can confirm is that the parties are known to each other and that we aren’t searching for anybody else in relation to this incident.”
Police confirmed the man was not known to them.
The victim’s relatives arrived at the scene on Monday afternoon and the street remains cordoned off.
At least 70 women and 14 children have allegedly been killed as a result of murder, manslaughter or neglect in 2024, according to the Red Heart Campaign which tracks and memorialises the deaths across Australia.
Police respond to reports of family violence every five minutes in Victoria – totalling more than 98,000 incidents in the 12 months to June – according to crime statistics.
