A Gold Coast bodybuilder accused of killing his ex-girlfriend accidentally caused her death when he tripped and a handgun in his bag went off, a coroner has found.
Ivona Jovanovic, 27, was shot in the chest at the home of 30-year-old Christos Panagakos in Highland Park on September 8, 2019.
A 9mm bullet burst through Ms Jovanovic’s chest and caused blood to flood into her thoracic cavity, affecting her heart and lungs, and she succumbed to her injuries at Gold Coast University Hospital several hours later.
Coroner Donald MacKenzie has presided over the inquest into her death. An inquest in which, he said, many witnesses were ‘not telling the truth’.
On Thursday, he found Panagakos’ actions leading up to the event were most credibly recounted by friend Daine Walker who was at the home at the time.
Walker, Panagakos, Ms Jovanovic and another friend were due to leave for a dinner together and had been preparing at the home before the tragedy, according to Coroner’s Court documents seen by Daily Mail Australia.
Walker – who met Panagakos through mutual friends in his teens – told police he and his friend were outside smoking a cigarette when they heard noises from inside the house.
Walker told officers who detained and interviewed him that he had heard a ‘thud’ followed closely by a ‘bang’.
Ivona Jovanovic (above), 27, was shot in the chest inside Christos Panagakos’ Highland Park home in 2019
Christos Panagakos, now 30, (pictured) was initially charged with manslaughter, but the case was later dropped
He and his friend then went inside the house.
He said in his police statement that Christos was ‘standing at the top of the stairs’ and that he remembered him saying that he ‘tripped’ and ‘it just went off’.
‘I saw a gun on the floor at the top of the stairs. I would describe it as looking like a cowboy gun with a wooden handle. I don’t know much about guns so can’t really describe it more than that.
‘I remember Christos said something like ‘What’d I do? F***, I didn’t mean it, I was corning up the stairs’. I said something like ‘Brother, relax just call the ambulance’.’
Walker described seeing Ms Jovanovic lying on the floor gasping for air while blood pooled on her lower back.
She had been planning to go out to dinner with Panagakos and his friends that night.
‘(Panagakos’ mother) Michelle had a phone in her hand and was going to call the ambulance. I remember Christos said something like ‘No, don’t call yet, wait’,’ Walker told police.
Panagakos was previously charged with manslaughter, however, those charges were later discontinued.
At Panagakos’ earlier committal hearing, Walker said he could not accurately recall the event, nor his witness statement because he was, at that time, an illicit drug user.
Witness Daine Walker told police he heard a ‘thud’ followed by a ‘bang like a gun going off’, after Panagakos ‘tripped down the stairs’ of his home (pictured)
The court heard the bullet caused internal bleeding that left Ms Jovanovic (above) gasping on the floor while her thoracic cavity filled with blood
The coroner said in their findings that ‘clearly’ Walker had been given ‘sound legal advice’ on how to avoid his earlier witness statement ‘being admissible against Mr Panagakos in a criminal trial’.
But the coroner also noted ‘the statement does not establish criminal negligence’ by Panagakos.
‘There is no direct evidence that Mr Panagakos knew that the firearm was loaded or indeed in the bag and a number of individuals with serious criminal antecedents were in a position to have placed the firearm in the bag without Mr Panagakos’ knowledge.’
The coroner also said Panagakos’ own recount could be ‘easily’ rejected, after the bodybuilder initially said the handgun fired while he was putting on a jumper.
The coroner found that Panagakos had caused Ms Jovanovic’s early death.
‘On the evidence before me this was essentially an accident,’ he said.
‘In terms of the Criminal Code his criminal negligence could not be established to warrant a prosecution for involuntary manslaughter.
‘Clearly many of the witnesses at this inquest were not telling the truth … should further relevant information become available there will always be an opportunity to re-open this inquest.’
The coroner echoed a statement from her father describing Ms Jovanovic (pictured) as a ‘happy, kind and caring person’ whose death had a lasting impact on loved ones
Panagakos maintained at the inquest he was not in charge of the handgun that fired to kill the influencer.
The court was previously told a bag had also reportedly been ‘dropped’ at the home.
Other witnesses gave conflicting accounts of the firearm.
The coroner was particularly critical of Michelle Panagakos’ evidence.
‘One can understand her motive in trying to protect her son. However her attempt initially to suggest that the deceased herself brought the handgun in a handbag … and her placing her son Christos at the bottom of the staircase at the time of the firearm discharge was, in my view, reprehensible,’ he said.
‘She was not a witness of credit.’
The coroner said the tragic incident had killed a ‘happy, kind and caring person’.
‘Her death has had a devastating and lasting impact on her family and those close to her.
‘The lack of clarity about how she died since can only have aggravated that grief.’
