‘I want to kill her’: Jail for horrific strangling of woman on a Perth street caught on CCTV

Warning: This story contains violent footage that some readers may find distressing.A FIFO worker who carried out months of stalking, abuse and harassment towards a woman in Perth has been jailed for attempting to kill her in a horrific assault captured by nearby CCTV cameras.Mihael Vrhovsek, 29, repeatedly strangled a woman who was known to him in February 2024 before passersby intervened and stopped him, saving her life.Vrhovsek mounted a campaign of abuse at the woman for five months that included changing his number 18 times after she blocked each one so he could repeatedly call and abuse her.During a Supreme Court trial in March this year, prosecutors told the jury Vrhovsek tried to contact the woman 234 times via text messages and phone calls over a three-day period in the lead up to the incident that culminated with him “lying in wait” in his car outside her apartment block for eight hours.Mihael Vrhovsek, 29, was found guilty of trying to kill a woman.Facebook“Killed yourself already?“, “This is your last warning”, “You’re a spectacular piece of s---”, “Go f--- yourself, politely” and “I would have killed myself already but the hatred towards you is keeping me alive” were just some of the text messages he sent her.By January 2024, the victim said the communication “got darker” with one email reading, “thanks for another sleepless night, I much prefer pretending you are dead in that apartment”. He also texted her “good night attention seeking s---” and later “you’re dead to me”.By the end of February, the woman said she felt too scared to return to her apartment after she was told by a neighbour that Vrhovsek had parked in her car space and slept in his car “like a predatory animal waiting for me”.The woman told the jury she was “freaked out”, had called the police and explained he was in her basement.“The officer went off and made some calls or something and when he came back he said, it’s a private property, we’ve got no access. He said, ‘We can’t help you’.Mihael Vrhovsek waited outside his victim’s apartment before launching a violent attack on her which only came to an end when bystanders stepped in. Picture: WA CourtsWA Courts“I walked out to my car and I just broke down.“I thought, what the f--- do I do? No one is helping.”Hours later she went back to the apartment briefly to grab a change of clothing with a friend, but when she ran into Vrhovsek she immediately called triple-zero.“I saw him walk out of the doors at me - he was looking down, targeted, coming at me,” she told the jury.Mihael Vrhovsek waited outside his victim’s apartment before launching a violent attack on her which only came to an end when bystanders stepped in. Picture: WA CourtsWA CourtsIn the triple-zero call, the woman can heard yelling “get the f--- away from me, get the f--- away from me” before the call goes quiet.During Vrhovsek’s sentencing on Thursday, Justice Alain Musikanth criticised the operator who took her call, calling it “woeful handling” before launching a scathing assessment of Vrhovsek’s behaviour.The 29-year-old strangled the woman three times, on the last occasion putting her into a choke hold on the ground while a third party repeatedly punched him and tried to pull him off.He told her she did not deserve to live and that she was a waste of air before stating that “she’s f---ed my life and stole from me” and then saying “let me go, I want to kill her”.“You used extreme violence, you went back and attacked her, you stayed focused on her, placed your fixed attention on her, your actions involved deliberate and controlled choices,” Musikanth said.“You knew exactly what you were doing.”An evaluation of Vrhovsek found him to have narcissistic and insecure traits, as well as possible autism. He had a prior diagnosis of ADHD, for which he took medication, and had been taking testosterone, as well as occasional ketamine use.Muskinath said he could not find that Vrhovsek showed any signs of empathy or remorse and called the members of the public who stepped in to help the woman “the true heroes of this traumatic and terrifying ordeal”.He sentenced Vrhovsek to 16 years behind bars with a non-parole period of 12 years.Anyone needing support can contact 1800 RESPECT (1800 737 732), National Sexual Abuse and Redress Support Service 1800 211 028 or Lifeline 13 11 14.From our partners