The mother of a New Zealand woman killed in Australia broke down in tears as she heard how her daughter was allegedly choked and restrained before her death.
Gable Tostee allegedly called Warriena Wright a "psycho b****" and told her she was lucky he didn't throw her off his balcony just moments before she plummeted to her death, a court has been told.
Tostee pleaded not guilty in the Brisbane Supreme Court to murdering Wright in the early hours of August 8, 2014 after they met on Tinder.
The 30-year-old was flanked by his parents and lawyers as he entered the court yesterday.
Crown prosecutor Glen Cash told the jury Tostee did not throw the 26-year-old to her death but intimidated and threatened her so greatly she felt the only way to escape was to climb down from his locked balcony.
"You're lucky I haven't chucked you off my balcony you goddamn psycho b****," Tostee is allegedly heard to say in the recording.
"You're not going to collect any belongings, you're just going to walk out.
"If you try to pull anything I'll knock you out, I'll knock you the f*** out - do you understand?"
A jury of seven women and six men was told a neighbour heard Wright crying "no, no, no, please let me go home" before witnessing her falling from Tostee's balcony about 15 seconds later.
Gable Tostee has denied murdering Warriena Wright.
Cash said an audio recording Tostee secretly made inside the apartment in the three hours leading up to Wright's death, in which the pair can be heard arguing and physically fighting, will be a key piece of evidence.
Tostee's phone was still recording when he left the apartment after Wright's fatal fall and called his father, Cash told the court.
In it, he admitted the pair had fought physically and that she had fallen over his balcony.
"I was all right at first, we, you know, had sex in bed and after that she kept drinking ... She kept beating me up ... I forced her out on to the balcony and I think she might have jumped off," Tostee allegedly told his father.
"She was saying, 'I know Muay Thai, I'll beat you up for fun'.
"I tried to hold her down and she ran out onto my balcony and the last thing I remember was she kept hitting me for some reason and I just like tackled her down on the ground inside the apartment."
Merzabeth Tagpuno, the dead woman's mother (centre), arriving at Brisbane Supreme Court yesterday. Photo / AAP
Earlier, the court also heard Tostee called his father after Wright fell to her death and told him the pair had had sex.
Cash said Tostee told his father the woman was "really drunk" and started hitting him, presumably as a joke.
Cash said a woman who lived directly under Tostee's unit in the Avalon Apartments complex would give evidence that she went onto her balcony after hearing a female saying "no, no no".
The court was told this witness would describe spotting legs dangling from the balcony above and then seeing someone fall.
The jurors also heard Tostee and Wright had exchanged messages "sporadically" after meeting via the dating app Tinder on August 1.
The trial before Justice John Byrne is expected to take seven to eight days, and will hear from more than 20 witnesses including Wright's sister and residents of the Avalon Apartments unit complex.
