For eight months after she was allegedly murdered by her jealous and controlling boyfriend, Sarah Gatt's physique remained in a tub inside her Melbourne public housing townhouse.
She was partially bare, wrapped in energy cords and lined with a hairdryer, a lamp and different home goods.
Andrew Baker, her on-and-off boyfriend of greater than two years, denies killing her in April 2017.
But it surely's alleged he did - someday between April 19 and his fiftieth birthday 4 days later.
The passage of time between her loss of life and her discovery means it was unattainable to find out her reason behind loss of life, however prosecutor John Dickie advised jurors within the opening of Baker's homicide trial on Tuesday that he allegedly acted with murderous intent towards her, or at the least with an intention to trigger her actually critical harm.
Baker has pleaded not responsible.
Dickie described Baker as jealous, insecure, possessive and controlling.
He did not like that Gatt additionally had one other on-and-off once more relationship with Leona Rei-Paku, he stated.
That relationship was additionally violent and turbulent.
Each concerned a number of calls to triple zero, which can be performed to jurors.
Gatt had fallen on arduous occasions, battling psychological well being and drug points, had kids exterior her care and was on a incapacity assist pension.
It is alleged her homicide, a month earlier than her fortieth birthday, was motivated by Baker's jealousy and unrequited love.
Rei-Paku final noticed Gatt alive on April 19, 2017.
The facility was switched off manually to her Kensington townhouse on April 23, giving police a timeline for the alleged homicide, Dickie stated.
The facility was turned again on in August 2017, when it is admitted Baker and others went to Gatt's house and noticed the physique within the bathtub.
Baker advised a good friend the physique could be Gatt's.
Dickie stated Baker later invited Rei-Paku to the home and that she had pulled again a blanket and noticed a foot.
Baker allegedly stated he and his good friend had been going to wash up the home and "throw the physique out".
Defence barrister John Saunders cautioned jurors towards judging Baker and his buddies for being in a home with a physique and never calling police.
These individuals didn't reside a traditional way of life, he stated.
Many, if not all, had psychological well being points and battle drug and alcohol abuse, he stated, describing them as individuals who reside "on the outskirts of our society".
"Andrew Baker didn't homicide Sarah Gatt. He's not chargeable for her loss of life," he stated.
It wasn't till January 2018, eight months after Gatt's alleged homicide, that police found her stays whereas doing a welfare test.
That they had left a calling card for her in December 2017 and once they returned on January 3 it was untouched.
Saunders stated there was no direct proof Baker killed Gatt, nor was there proof about her reason behind loss of life.
"In these circumstances how will you exclude, as an inexpensive chance, that Sarah Gatt did not die on account of accidents she sustained in an accident, equivalent to falling down the steps," he stated.
He additionally stated Rei-Paku could not be dominated out, noting that in Could 2017 she posed as her girlfriend at Centrelink and tried unsuccessfully to divert funds to her personal checking account.
Jurors can be proven crime scene movies and pictures from inside the house afterward Tuesday.
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