Police examine 28-year-old murder as precedent for Tostee case

Police investigating the Gold Coast death of Warriena Wright, who died after falling from the balcony of a man she met on dating website Tinder, have turned their attention to a 28-year-old case with chilling similarities to that of Wright, according to information police sources provided to News Corp.

Wright was in the apartment of Gold Coast man Gable Tostee on August 8, after the two met on dating app Tinder.

According to police, neighbours heard a woman screaming, "No!" and, "I just want to go home!" before Warriena fell 14 storeys to her death.

Police are expected to allege that Warriena fell after climbing over the balcony "in fear of her life".

The case is eerily similar to that of Kelly Healy, who died after climbing out a sixth-storey bathroom window to escape her abusive boyfriend, then 33-year-old tattooist Kim William Royall in NSW in 1986. 

Healy was showering when Royall bashed in the bathroom door, punched her in the face and tried to strangle her.

He was found guilty of murder, even though he didn't push her from the window, because she perished trying to escape from him.

The case went all the way to the High Court, which upheld Royall's conviction.

"In NSW, death as a result of an act done with the intention to inflict grievous bodily harm is murder. It is immaterial that the death was caused in a way which the applicant did not precisely foresee," the court found. 

The case could provide an important legal precedent for the prosecution case against Tostee, since the High Court appeal clarified a previously untested point of law. 

Tostee has been charged with murder, and will appear before the Queensland Supreme Court  this week.