Chilling new video of suspected killer Simon Gittany
A torn-up note found on the body of Sydney ballerina Lisa Harnum has revealed chilling details of her relationship with the man accused of killing her.
Footage of Simon Gittany was captured by what's believed to be a secret pinhole camera he installed outside the apartment door to spy on his Canadian partner.
A police officer said he found the piece of paper in Ms Harnum's pocket as she lay dead on the concrete outside her city apartment. It read: "there are surveillance cameras inside and outside the house."
Lisa's mother Joan Harnum told the court the note matched her daughter's handwriting.
Just before she fell to her death from the 15th floor of the luxury flat, Ms Harnum allegedly screamed as her fiance put his hands over her mouth and pulled her back inside.
A neighbour heard "a single bone-chilling scream" and a woman yelling "please help me, God help me" before the fall.
One witness said he saw a man who appeared to be fist-pumping on the balcony after something had gone over the edge.
Police officers found the note in Lisa Harnum's pocket after she plunged to her death. Photo: Supplied
Another witness walking near The Hyde apartment block on Liverpool Street told police he saw a shirtless man holding what appeared to be black luggage horizontally over the balcony before it fell over.
"Of course, it was not a piece of luggage, it was Ms Harnum wearing black clothing," Crown prosecutor Mark Tedeschi QC said at Monday's opening of the murder trial.
Simon Gittany has pleaded not guilty to the murder of Ms Harnum and is now facing trial in Sydney before the NSW Supreme Court.
The 40-year-old is accused of pitching her from their 15th-storey home unit on Liverpool Street opposite Hyde Park on July 30, 2011.
Supplied camera footage of Simon Gittany holding a hand over Lisa Harnum's mouth moments before he is accused of throwing her off an apartment balcony.
Wayne Steel, a City of Sydney labourer, was working near Museum Railway Station just metres from the block that Saturday morning.
"I thought it was a squawk, I thought it was a bird," he told Gittany's trial.
"Like an `argh' then something hit.
"Straight after it, there was a thud. At first I thought it was a car accident."
Court told Gittany was a controlling and abusive partner
Another council employee, Paul Baker, was working opposite the building, in Hyde Park.
He said he first heard a "groan" or an "argh. It was very brief."
CCTV footage shows Simon Gittany in the elevator shortly after his ballerina girlfriend Lisa Harnum fell to her death. Photo: Supplied.
As people began crowding around, both men soon realised what they'd heard was a woman hitting the Liverpool Street footpath.
The court has previously been told Gittany was a controlling and abusive partner, who discouraged Ms Harnum from working, secretly monitored her phone and email and alienated her from her friends.
She had planned to the leave him days before her death, witnesses have told the trial.
Gittany says they had a complicated but loving relationship and that he tried to save her as she climbed onto the balcony in the midst of a fight.
He has been supported each day of the trial by his parents, siblings and new girlfriend.
Accused killer Simon Gittany leaves court with his partner Rachelle Louise. Photo: 7News
