Bali Nine associate admits to murdering aspiring pastry chef

A man jailed for his involvement in the Bali Nine drug syndicate has admitted to killing his girlfriend almost a year after he was found standing naked over her body.

Khanh Thanh Ly had been dating Miming Listiyani for about two years before the 27-year-old was found bloodied and beaten in shallow water near Cabarita Wharf in Sydney's Parramatta River on April 7 last year.

The 35-year-old was naked when police arrived and tried to hide in nearby bushes but was arrested.

He was charged with murder and pleaded guilty in Burwood Local Court on March 1.

According to police facts tendered to court, the couple got into a heated argument in Breakfast Point before Ly slammed the Indonesian national's head against the pavement several times rendering her unconscious, the Daily Telegraph reported.

Police allege her body was then loaded into the boot of Ly's car before he drove her to the wharf and dragged her body to the water.

Paramedics were reportedly unable to revive Ms Listiyani, who had sustained significant head injuries and "sizable ligature marks" around her neck.

Ly was a long-time school friend of executed Bali Nine drug smuggler Myuran Sukumaran.

He was jailed in 2007 after admitting that he conspired to smuggle heroin into Australia just months before the Bali Nine were caught two years earlier.

Ly will next appear in court on April 7, exactly one year after Ms Listiyani’s death.