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A man in Brisbane, Australia, who was awaiting trial for allegedly murdering his 16-year-old girlfriend before stuffing her body in a barrel, has died following a prison brawl.
Zlatko Sikorsky, 37, who spent more than a week on life support at a hospital after sustaining severe head injuries in a fight with another prisoner, died on Friday, a spokesperson for the Queensland Corrective Services confirmed in a statement.
Sikorsky was taken to Brisbane's Princess Alexandra Hospital in critical condition after being assaulted at the Wolston Correctional Centre on November 10.
The statement said: "The Queensland Police Service's Correctional Services Investigation Unit is investigating. Our condolences go out to the man's family and friends."
Before his death, Sikorsky was due to stand trial in Brisbane Supreme Court over the murder of Larissa Beilby in June 2018.
Sikorsky was awaiting trial for charges of murder, torture, deprivation of liberty and interfering with a corpse in relation to the death of Beilby.
He was accused of killing Beilby at a property in Buccan, about 20 miles south of Brisbane, before stuffing her body inside a barrel on the back of a ute. The vehicle was was later found abandoned in Stapylton, about eight miles east of Buccan, near the city of Gold Coast.
Witnesses heard screams coming from Sikorsky's car on the day Beilby was killed, Brisbane newspaper The Courier Mail reported.
The teenager sustained blunt force trauma to her head, neck and limbs before she died. A cause of death was not determined due to the decomposition of her body but she may have asphyxiated, the paper reported.
A friend of Beilby told a committal hearing last November, that the pair had socialized and taken drugs with Sikorsky.
The court was told Beilby ran away from home and was staying in a safe house and "doing drugs with older friends" in the weeks before her death.
Sikorsky was described to be "intimidating" and "always" carried a gun with him. He told friends he was keeping drugs and money inside the barrel where the teenager's body was found.
Last month, a child killer who abducted and murdered an 8-year-old girl nearly died after being stabbed and beaten by other inmates.
The body of the girl was found 16 days later and Roy Whiting, a convicted pedophile, was arrested and charged with her murder.
Whiting was attacked by two fellow prisoners who stabbed him with screws and a plank of wood with a screw in it while screaming: "You f***ing nonce." "Nonce" is an English slang word, meaning "child sex offender."
About the writer
Soo Kim is a Newsweek reporter based in London, U.K. She covers various lifestyle stories, specializing in Read more