A 92-year-old woman yelled "help me" in a medical alarm-initiated phone call after she was allegedly beaten and stabbed by her cleaner, a jury has heard.
Three recordings of the medical alarm provider's calls with Marjorie Welsh and emergency services from January 2, 2019, were played in the NSW Supreme Court on Monday.
"Please help me ... ambulance," Ms Welch could be heard saying as the alarm service operator asked her for more information.
"Quick."
Hanny Papanicolaou, 38, has pleaded not guilty to murdering her client of one year, in her inner western Sydney home.
Ms Welsh, who died six weeks after the attack, was allegedly beaten with fine china and walking sticks.
She pressed her medical alarm, activating a phone call with the alarm service, which assessed the situation and then contacted triple zero.
"She sounded really distressed and then I thought she said she was being attacked," the alarm service operator told triple zero.
The Supreme Court jury heard how, with an ambulance on the way, the alarm service operator reconnected with Ms Welsh, asking repeated questions about what was happening and if another person was there.
But only one answer was received.
"Help."
Moments later, the operator heard the voice of a male neighbour, who explained Ms Welsh was face down on the floor and bleeding.
"She's ... been hit in the head or something," he said.
Police arrived on the scene minutes later.
Later, while in hospital, the elderly woman gave two police interviews where she named her assailant as "Hanny the housekeeper" and described the savage attack in detail.
Prosecutor Christopher Taylor has told the jury the cleaner was a regular gambler and was left with just $11 in her bank account after an early-morning pokies session the day of the attack.
After Ms Welsh said she was beaten with walking sticks, she was hit with fine china before Papanicolaou used a knife from the cutlery drawer to stab her six times in the lower chest and abdomen, Mr Taylor said.
Ms Welsh remembered her emergency medical alarm around her neck, and pressed the button while Papanicolaou stole her cordless phone and "bolted" back to her car.
Papanicolaou pleaded guilty to manslaughter on the basis of substantial impairment due to an abnormality of the mind, but this was rejected by the Crown.
She has disputed her employer's version of events, saying Ms Welsh accused her of stealing $50 before she was attacked with the walking stick.
She explained the ceramic plates had "fallen off the table" and landed on the woman's face due to the scuffle, and that it was Ms Welsh who held the knife and was "stabbing backwards," while she held her.
The trial continues.
