Joe Lo Bianco: Dad let daughter find mum’s bloodied body after murder, sentenced to 24 years in jail

WARNING: Graphic detail of family violence.

A killer husband who led his daughter to find her mother’s bloodied body in their home’s garage will spend more than two decades behind bars.

Joe Lo Bianco appeared at Victoria’s Supreme Court on Thursday and was sentenced to 24 years in prison with a non-parole period of 18 years and six months.

His wife Kaliopi Roumeliotis had just stepped out of her car at their inner Melbourne home on November 30, 2022, when Lo Bianco struck her repeatedly to the head and neck with a metal car ramp.

He left her body on the garage floor, placing the murder weapon under her head to stage an accidental death, before removing and hiding his bloodied clothes.

Lo Bianco went next door to chat to his in-laws for close to an hour while he waited for his daughter to be dropped off after a friend’s birthday party.

When the girl arrived, she asked after her mother and suggested she could be in the garage.

Lo Bianco then told his daughter to go inside and see if she was there.

The young girl, named in court under the pseudonym Sally, found her mother’s dead body with blood covering the floor, car and walls.

Sally ran next door, begging for help from her uncle and aunt who came and started performing CPR while Lo Bianco called triple zero.

Paramedics confirmed Ms Roumeliotis was already dead.

Justice Amanda Fox said leading his daughter to the site of her mother’s body was a “deeply aggravating aspect to (his) offending”.

She noted Lo Bianco’s refusal to get a COVID-19 vaccination in the time before the murder.

The decision also meant Lo Bianco could not continue working at Australia Post, leading to “tension and arguments” about finances.

Justice Fox said both Ms Roumeliotis and her daughter should have been cared for and protected by Lo Bianco.

“Instead you blew apart that trust when you committed this crime,” she said.

“Your crime was one of family violence, as has been said before, the murder of a domestic partner is the most extreme form of family violence.”

Justice Fox told the court that no sentence she imposed could make up for Ms Roumeliotis’ “priceless” life.

“She is dearly missed by everyone who loved her,” she said.

Lo Bianco, who has been in custody since 2022, initially told police his wife must have tripped and fallen, claiming he had no involvement in her death because he was in the backyard cleaning a rabbit enclosure.

The 53-year-old later admitted what happened and pleaded guilty to murder in the Supreme Court in September.

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