Just before she passed away, a terrified woman made an emergency call, reporting that her aggressive ex-partner was at her residence, attempting to murder her and take her money.
Tatiana Dokhotaru was killed in her 22nd-floor apartment in southwest Sydney late at night on May 26, 2023.
Her ex-partner Danny Zayat, 30, has pleaded not guilty to her murder and faced the first day of a NSW Supreme Court jury trial on Monday.
Jurors heard of the 89-second call that Ms Dokhotaru made to triple zero shortly before she was allegedly murdered.
“Yes, hi. My ex-boyfriend’s here and he’s trying to kill me,” she told the operator.
On a recording of the call, the pair could be heard arguing about money, crown prosecutor Alex Morris said.
Dokhotaru told the operator she was being bashed and that Zayat was stealing her money, he said.
She provided the address of her apartment in the Sydney suburb of Liverpool before the call ended, the jury heard.
The Crown alleges Zayat took the phone, ended the call and then threw the device off the unit’s high-rise balcony.
It was never recovered, the court was told.
Zayat is accused of murdering Dokhotaru sometime in the next hour.
He allegedly did so through one or more blows to the head, or by hitting her on the head and pushing her over, causing a head injury.
The intention was either to kill or inflict really serious bodily harm to his ex-partner, Mr Morris said.
Prosecutors have brought an alternative charge of manslaughter against Zayat if the charge of murder cannot be proven beyond reasonable doubt.
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