Simon Gittany re-enacts moment fiancee Lisa Harnum fell to her death

Updated November 07, 2013 09:23:45

A man accused of throwing his fiancée to her death from a Sydney apartment has demonstrated in a Sydney court his version of how he attempted to save her.

Simon Gittany is on trial for the murder of Lisa Harnum, who fell 15 floors to her death in the city's CBD in July 2011.

The 40-year-old has used a railing in the New South Wales Supreme Court to show how he attempted to reach out to Ms Harnum, saying she climbed over herself and fell.

"I instantly pushed myself up onto the balcony rail," Mr Gittany told the court.

"I rested my belly button onto the balcony rail and I reached out as far as I could."

Gittany pushed his body against the railing of the courtroom dock with both arms outstretched and his palms facing down to the ground.

Ms Harnum's mother requested to leave the courtroom before the demonstration.

In front of a packed courtroom, Crown Prosecutor Mark Tedeschi QC has grilled Gittany about the night Ms Harnum died.

The court has heard Ms Harnum had an eating disorder and weighed just 50 kilograms.

Mr Tedeschi told the Supreme Court that Gittany used his "superior male strength" to throw her, when he found out through a surveillance device on her mobile phone that she was planning to leave him.

"That was an act of aggression," Mr Tedeschi told the court.

"My intention was not to be aggressive in any way whatsoever," Gittany said.

The court heard Gittany was "apoplectic with rage" when he discovered text messages Lisa Harnum sent to her personal trainer and a friend, saying she was planning to remove her possessions from the apartment.

"He was away most of the day, so I packed a few things and took them to a storage centre," one text message said.

"I think he wants to talk, and I'm very nervous."

Gittany has conceded he was angry, but maintains Ms Harnum climbed over the balcony herself.

CCTV vision taken in the moments before Ms Harnum fell shows Gittany grabbing her outside the apartment.

Tedeschi: You dragged her back into the apartment, using your superior strength as a male.

Gittany: I wasn't dragging her back in.

Tedeschi: This is the first time you lost it with her? She was screaming out 'help, God help me'. She wasn't just yelling out for nothing was she?

Gittany: I've seen her do that before, yes.

Ms Harnum fell with her handbag, and the Crown says she had no reason to carry it if she jumped voluntarily.

"Do you agree that she didn't have any need for her handbag when she went to the balcony?" Mr Tedeschi asked.

"I don't know what she was thinking," Gittany responded.

Frustration over a 'secret'

Gittany proclaimed his innocence to his barrister, Philip Strickland SC, by responding with a simple "no" when asked if he killed his fiancee.

He admits the two had a fight before Ms Harnum fell from the apartment, after he resurrected an ongoing dispute regarding a "secret" she said she had.

The court heard Gittany had purchased surveillance computer software to monitor Ms Harnum's text messages when she refused to divulge the secret.

He admitted being a "jealous" lover.

Gittany says that when he asked her about the secret again on the night she died, Ms Harnum ran to the balcony and climbed over the rail, but his attempts to grab hold of her failed.

Mr Strickland described the relationship between Gittany and Ms Harnum as a "roller coaster", but loving and affectionate.

On the first day of his evidence, Gittany smiled as 20 videos were played to the court capturing romantic moments he shared with Miss Harnum.

The trial continues..



First posted November 06, 2013 10:53:53