3 days ago
Wife of Sunshine Coast man Zdravko 'Zed' Bilic pays tribute to her 'entire world'
The wife of slain Sunshine Coast man Zradvko "Zed" Bilic has paid tribute to her husband, who she said was her "entire world".
Two teenagers have been arrested and charged over the 57-year-old's death on Sunday night.
Mr Bilic was alone at his Warana home, while his wife Gry Tømte was interstate.
Police will allege Mr Bilic was fatally stabbed during a break and enter.
His body was discovered on Monday night, after his wife asked a neighbour to check the home when she had not heard from her husband.
On Thursday afternoon, Ms Tømte released a statement through police.
In the statement, she said the void Mr Bilic, or Zed as he was affectionately known, had left behind was "unbearable".
"Zed was my entire world for 28 years," she wrote.
"From the moment we met, both of us living away from family in the new country we had fallen in love with, we knew instantly we were each other's person.
"We were complete opposites — and together we made a whole."
Ms Tømte runs a successful beauty business, with clinics in St Kilda and Northcote in Melbourne.
The couple moved to the Sunshine Coast three years ago, but regularly travelled back for work and to see family and friends.
"People say I'm the strong one — but I could only be strong because he allowed me to be, and because he wrapped his arms around me daily to make sure I could," she wrote.
Ms Tømte described Mr Bilic's love of soccer and how he rarely missed a Melbourne Victory game.
"He was the MLP [most loved person] in his soccer teams — both in Melbourne and on the Sunshine Coast," she wrote.
"And he loved them right back. He was the kind of friend who would drop everything to help anyone.
"And even if you weren't his friend, if he saw you on the street, he'd smile and have a chat."
Ms Tømte said Mr Bilic's biggest legacy was the one he left behind with his work at Ginger Sport.
"He was an exceptional male role model for the kids he worked with at the early childhood centres up here on the coast," she wrote.
"Whether we were walking on the beach, going to the mall, or visiting the zoo, there would always be a little, enthusiastic, excited voice yelling 'Coach Zed, Coach Zed!'
"It was so clear to me and everyone who saw this that he was a superhero to the little kids he worked with."
Ms Tømte has now returned to the Sunshine Coast, and has thanked the community for its support, but has asked for privacy while she grieves.
"If you've had the privilege of being in Zed's presence, you'll know that he was literal sunshine," she wrote.
