Gable Tostee allegedly called a New Zealand woman he met on Tinder 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 heard.
Tostee, 30, has pleaded not guilty in the Brisbane Supreme Court to murdering Warriena Wright in the early hours of August 8, 2014.
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.
Gable Tostee is charged with the murder of New Zealander Warriena Tagpuno Wright. Photo / via Facebook
The court heard an audio recording made by Tostee captured an altercation between the pair as well as Wright's eventual death.
"If you try to pull anything I'll knock you out, I'll knock you the f*** out - do you understand?"
A jury containing 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.
Warriena Tagpuno Wright. Photo / Supplied
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 onto 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."
After being called as the first witness, Wright's sister Marreza told the court the two kept in touch via Facebook while Warriena was holidaying in Australia and messaged on the night of August 7.
She told the court her older sister said she'd met a man who looked like a character called Sam Winchester from the television show Supernatural.
The court heard Marreza was told the next day her sister had died.
'She might've jumped off'
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.
"I forced her out onto the balcony and I think she might've jumped off," he allegedly told him.
Cash said a woman who lived directly under Tostee's unit in the Avalon Apartments complex would give evidence she went onto her balcony after hearing a female saying "no, no no".
The court heard 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.
Merzabeth Tagpuno, the mother of New Zealand woman Warrienna Wright, arrives at the Supreme Court in Brisbane. Photo / AAP
Wright's mother earlier broke down in court as Tostee pleaded not guilty to murder.
Tagpuno broke down in tears as Tostee officially pleaded not guilty to murder at the start of his Brisbane Supreme Court trial today.
