A woman unable to extricate herself from a relationship because of guilt told friends of her fears soon before her alleged murder.
The pair had been in a long-term de facto relationship which she was trying to get free from, jurors at the 63-year-old’s NSW Supreme Court murder trial were told today.
“Right now my feelings are I really hate him and I wish he was out of my life,” she texted to friend Michelle Roberts in September 2022.
In December, she messaged again saying she was sick of Eriksen and did not want to pay for his lifestyle anymore.
Jurors heard that the unemployed 63-year-old was financially dependent on Fenwick while they lived together at their Mascot apartment.
Roberts testified that her friend had been made redundant just before Christmas in 2022 and that this was a “big blow” to a woman very focused on her career.
In February 2023, Fenwick texted Roberts that she was going to seek advice from the Women’s Legal Service about getting another unit.
“I am fearful of Tony. That is why I am telling you this,” she texted Roberts in March.
“I just (need) to have a record if something happens to me.”
That same month, she told counsellor Melissa Burn at Sydney’s Langton Centre about her relationship troubles.
The counsellor thought Fenwick was being financially abused by Eriksen, the jury heard.
Burn’s clinical notes read to the jury noted Fenwick found the situation she was in with her flatmate “increasingly difficult” at the time.
She had been attempting to extricate herself from the relationship for several years, the counsellor wrote.
“Lisa admitted that she can’t move forward in her life while he is weighing her down but she can’t figure out how to remove him from her life without feeling guilty.”
A month before she was found dead in her apartment, the 59-year-old told Roberts and another friend Robert Srjararian that Eriksen was not happy she had seen a counsellor and that she was fearful of him.
Both friends admitted Fenwick had never mentioned any physical harm at the hands of Eriksen.
The 63-year-old is representing himself without a lawyer at the murder trial.
Yesterday, the jury was told Fenwick was repeatedly stabbed in the heart and lungs after taking her two schnauzer dogs for a walk.
The alleged murder weapon, a kitchen knife, was found in the sink.
In a triple-zero call Eriksen told the operator they had got into an argument and he had “put a knife in her,” the jury was told yesterday.
Readers seeking support can contact Lifeline on 13 11 14 or beyond blue on 1300 22 4636.
