Lawyers for accused murderer Ricardo Barbaro have conceded he was with victim Ellie Price in the lead up to her death and left the apartment where her body was found, but argued he was not the one who fatally stabbed her.
Instead, lawyers for Mr Barbaro told the Supreme Court of Victoria Ms Price's work as a stripper put her in "a world" where she came into contact with others who may have wanted to harm her.
Ms Price's body was found by police in the South Melbourne property on May 5, 2020, with numerous knife wounds, including an 8-centimetre long slash across her neck and 10-centimetre-deep stab wound to her chest.
Investigators believe the body had been there for about six days, and was discovered after Ms Price's concerned mother contacted police because she had not been able to reach her 26-year-old daughter.
Prosecutor Patrick Bourke told the Supreme Court it was Mr Barbaro, Ms Price's boyfriend, who carried out the killing during an argument and that he then left the Park Street apartment in the 26-year-old's white Mercedes.
The court heard the car was seen on security footage leaving the area around 4:30am on April 29, before Mr Barbaro met up with his father Giuseppe "Joe" Barbaro later that day at Williamstown and at Diggers Rest, on Melbourne's outskirts.
In the days that followed, Mr Bourke said Mr Barbaro used a hired van to drive through regional towns in Victoria, NSW and the ACT, before he was eventually arrested in NSW.
Prosecution tells court blood at crime scene was likely from Mr Barbaro
Mr Bourke described the scene that confronted police when they went to Ms Price's apartment and found her bloodied body in her bedroom.
"Ms Price is on the floor, she's dressed in blue tracksuit pants, socks and a blue dressing gown. Near her body is a pair of blue jeans, a yellow top with sequins all over it and some white sneakers nearby," he said.
"Six stab wounds … You can infer from that alone murderous intent."
Mr Bourke said some blood found at the crime scene was about "1 billion times" more likely to have come from Mr Barbaro, than from anyone else.
Defence lawyer Rishi Nathwani confirmed Mr Barbaro was in the company of Ms Price on April 28 and the early hours of April 29, and that he left the South Melbourne property in the Mercedes about 4:30am on April 29.
But Mr Nathwani said his client disputed the prosecution argument that he was fleeing the murder scene.
"His case is he did not cause the death of Ellie Price. He was not the last person to see her alive," Mr Nathwani said.
"Were there any other people who she upset in the world in which she lived who wanted to harm her?" he asked.
Mother gives evidence to court
The court heard Ms Price regularly received an allowance and large sums of money from another man, named Mark Gray, who paid her rent and bought her gifts.
The prosecutor said in the month before her death, the mother-of-one tried to blackmail Mr Gray with a false accusation.
"She essentially demanded from him $100,000 to buy a salon or she would tell the police that he had raped her," Mr Bourke told the court.
Mr Bourke said the pair reconciled, and were in contact around the time Ms Price was killed.
"There's so much I don't understand. I just hope we can sort it out over time xx", Mr Gray wrote to her.
In evidence, Ms Price's mother Tracey Gangell confirmed she also received payments and gifts from Mr Gray, but denied her daughter was in a romantic relationship with him.
Ms Gangell said she knew her daughter worked at strip clubs but did not believe she worked at brothels.
She also denied knowing about Mr Gray having an interest in purchasing brothels in Melbourne and Sydney.
Mr Gray is expected to give evidence later in the murder trial.
The four-week trial, before Justice Lex Lasry, continues.
