Lisa Fenwick, 59, was pronounced dead on April 9, 2023, soon after four paramedics attended her rented apartment in the inner south Sydney suburb of Mascot.
Her alleged murderer, flatmate Anthony “Tony” Eriksen was wearing a bathrobe and still on the phone to triple zero when he ushered the medical officers into his unit, a NSW Supreme Court jury trial heard today.
Eriksen and Fenwick had been in a long-term relationship which she had been trying unsuccessfully to extricate herself from before the alleged murder, the jury heard previously.
Paramedic Ryan Constance told jurors he had walked into the bedroom to find Fenwick lying on her back on the floor.
“There was blood around her chest and abdomen area with a cloth placed on top,” he said.
The small face cloth was “soaked in blood quite heavily”.
With several stab wounds to Fenwick’s chest, abdomen and right arm, paramedics decided against first aid, Constance said.
“We made a decision to not commence resuscitation due to the term ‘injuries incompatible with life’ due to the obvious stab wounds that were present,” he said.
Fenwick was formally pronounced dead around 15 minutes after paramedics arrived.
There was no one else in the apartment apart from Fenwick and her partner, Constance told the court.
Fellow paramedic Isabel Henry told jurors she saw blood droplets in the unit entrance and hallway.
Eriksen has pleaded not guilty to murder and is representing himself without lawyers in the trial.
Months before the alleged murder, the 63-year-old called MensLine Australia and Link2Home seeking emergency accommodation for a couple of nights.
In the February 2023 calls, which were played to the court, Eriksen said Fenwick wanted him out of the house and to “die in a ditch”.
He claimed that he was stuck without options as he only had $50 to his name, and a credit card debt of around $10,000 and could not afford to move out.
He told the MensLine operator that some space would be good and that he did not want to argue with Fenwick.
“I’m not going to escalate those arguments, if you escalate you add fuel to the fire,” he said.
He was eventually given two nights’ accommodation at a hotel but was urged to try think of a longer-term plan to improve his situation.
Yesterday, jurors heard Eriksen was financially dependent on Fenwick, who had complained to her friends about him weighing her down.
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