Borce Ristevski appears in Melbourne court charged with murder of wife Karen
Borce Ristevski will fight a charge he murdered his wife Karen, whose body was found in Victorian bushland months after she went missing in 2016.
Homicide detectives arrested the 53-year-old on Wednesday morning and a short time later he faced Melbourne Magistrates Court charged with his wife's murder.
"He will be pleading not guilty," his lawyer Rob Stary told magistrate Angela Bolger.
Prosecutor Andrew Tinney SC said police needed extra time to complete their brief of evidence "because of the nature of the investigation and the ongoing work that needs to be a done".
Mr Stary said his client had already been under investigation for a number of months.
"This man doesn't have any history and we want the matter expedited," he told the court.
Ristevski has been remanded in custody and will return to court on April 18.
No one from his family was in court on Wednesday.
Ms Ristevski went missing from her Oakley Drive, Avondale Heights home on the morning of June 29 in 2016.
Her remains were discovered in bushland in the Mount Macedon Regional Park eight months later, on February 20.
In March, hundreds of mourners dressed in black filled St John's Uniting Church at Essendon for a private funeral service for Ms Ristevski.
Her husband was one of the pallbearers, while their daughter Sarah carried a framed photo of her mother to lead the funeral procession.
