A mother accused of feeding her teenage autistic son nothing but bread and soda before allegedly starving him to death has hit out after being questioned about her allegations.
Keti Jovanovska has been charged with the manslaughter of her son Joshua Djuric, 18, after he was found dead at the family home in Yagoona in Sydney’s south-west last week in an emaciated state.
Mrs Jovanovska is accused of failing to provide food, medical attention or medicine to her son as his health declined.
The mother was confronted by reporters outside her home on Wednesday, where one asked if she was okay.
“No,” she replied as she quickly got into her car.
Keti Jovanovska has been accused of manslaughter of her son Joshua Djuric, 18,
Ms Jovanovska, is accused of failing to provide food, medical attention or medicine to her son as his health was declining
“Has it been a hard time for you?” asks a journalist.
‘Yes, I must not speak. I must not speak,’ replied the mother.
The mother was seen returning to her home in Yagoona shortly before midday on Thursday with a bag filled with a few groceries, including a packet of Strawberry flavored Extra chewing gum.
“I can’t say anything,” she repeatedly told Daily Mail Australia. ‘I just want to be left alone.’
A police car drove by the house Thursday morning, and two officers spoke briefly with Jovanovska at her front door not long after she returned home.
A neighbor said she had been ‘scared’ of Joshua in the year before the Covid pandemic because of his erratic behaviour, but said the Jovanovskas were a ‘lovely’ family.
‘Before Covid he had about 12 months of very bombastic behaviour. I was a bit scared of him,’ she told Daily Mail Australia.
‘I wouldn’t knock on the door because you never knew what mood he would be in.’
The mother told reporters she ‘wanted to be left alone’ after being asked about her allegations on Thursday
A police car drove by the house Thursday morning, and two officers spoke briefly with Jovanovska at her front door not long after she returned home.
She said Ms Jovanovska, who is Macedonian, had moved into the house 24 years ago with her parents and brother.
“They were a lovely, lovely family,” she said.
Jovanovska’s brother was married and moved to Melbourne, and she had moved out after marrying a man called Adam.
After giving birth to Joshua, Jovanovska, known to the neighbor as Kathy, moved back in with her husband and the boy.
‘She’s a lovely girl and her husband is lovely too. I can honestly say they were a lovely family,’ said the neighbour.
Mrs. Jovanovska’s parents eventually moved to live with their son and daughter-in-law, and at some point her husband also left, leaving the mother and son alone.
“He was a nice, friendly boy in the beginning,” the neighbor said.
Joshua had attended the local primary school, then Bass Hill High, but found school difficult.
A barred window is seen on the front of the house, while a blue mattress is seen leaning against a brick wall
Referring to the broken window on the front of the house, a neighbor said ‘you can tell by the house he used to get a bit stressed’
“His mother had to pick him up because he was playing or being bullied,” the neighbor said.
“He was a big boy who was a bit loud and gruff.”
Referring to broken windows at the front of the family home, she said: ‘You can tell from the house that he used to get a bit stressed as he got older.
“I used to see Kathy at the mailbox and say, “How’s Josh?” And she’d say, “He’s good.”
The neighbor said she had not seen Joshua for the past two and a half years.
“He could have walked out when I walked out,” she said.
‘If you don’t live in the house, you just don’t know.
‘I just feel so sorry for him, what a sad life. I am so sorry for her.
‘I think she did her best. She is just a lovely person.’
A neighbor said she has not seen Joshua for the past two and a half years (pictured is the Yagoona house)
Another neighbor said she was sympathetic to Jovanovska’s situation and wondered what support she had received.
“To me, it’s just a very sad situation,” she said.
‘I don’t know how anyone could fall through the cracks like that. It just shouldn’t happen.
“But as far as that goes, no one is in a position to judge that woman.”
The neighbor said it would have been hard enough to raise a child as a single parent without him having a disability.
“If you don’t get respite or support, how are you going to cope?” she said.
‘The average person raising a child in this day and age has a hard time, so can you imagine this poor woman?
‘I think it’s important that people show some compassion instead of crucifying her or sitting in judgment without trying to live her life or stand in her shoes.
‘Unless you’re the person living that life, no one is really going to know.
‘As a mother she now has to live with it, and that alone is enough for her, together with what she has been through.’
The neighbor said she was unaware of the help Mrs Jovanovska had in raising Joshua, but there did not appear to be much support.
A neighbor was sympathetic to the mother’s situation and asked if she had received support to raise her son
The neighbor called for understanding as Mrs Jovanovska goes to court.
“I don’t want her name thrown around like she was some kind of monster,” she said.
‘She was a very kind woman.
‘She did the best she could with what she had.
‘I think in a situation like this it’s about compassion and sympathy. She has lost her son. People need to understand that. After all, it was her child.’
The house has several boarded up windows and an old mattress left out in front.
Police will claim that the 52-year-old woman only fed her son bread and soda, despite his deteriorating condition.
Jovanovska sought help from neighbors after finding her son at around 10.30pm on Monday 26 September.
Neighbors called the emergency services, but Joshua was pronounced dead at the scene.
Police will claim the 52-year-old woman only fed her son bread and soda despite his deteriorating condition
Police claim he died between 6 p.m. and 10:40 p.m. that night, as long as four hours before triple-0 was called, according to court documents filed in her bail application.
Jovanovska was questioned at Bankstown police station before being taken to hospital for assessment.
She was charged with his manslaughter the next morning and appeared before Bankstown Local Court.
Detectives are investigating whether Joshua had any physical or mental conditions that prevented him from being able to care for himself.
Ms Jovanovska is due back in court on November 30 and remains on strict bail conditions.