Photograph by Sarah Ackerman
An Australian businessman has been found guilty of killing his ballerina fiancée by throwing her from the balcony of their high-rise balcony in Sydney.
Simon Gittany picked up Lisa Cecilia Harnum after she said she was leaving him, and threw her off their balcony in July 2011 in a fit of rage. Harnum had previously tried to run from the flat and escape the man who had control of her entire life, including monitoring her text messages and other communications, but the judge heard that Gittany dragged her back inside kicking and screaming – an act captured on nearby CCTV.
The judge said that Gittany likely knocked Harnum unconscious before throwing her to her death from their 15th floor balcony.
Gittany had plead not guilty to the murder charge, claiming that Harnum ran to the balcony to try and escape or call for help before falling over the edge, but Justice Lucy McCallum described this series of events as “inherently implausible”.