Woman texted friend about 'absolute hell' before alleged murder

Before being allegedly murdered by her ex-partner, Tatiana Dokhotaru confided he had threatened to kill her during a fight in which he allegedly dragged her by the hair and spat on her repeatedly.

Dokhotaru, 34, was killed in her 22nd-floor apartment in south-west Sydney on the night of May 26, 2023.

Her ex-boyfriend, Danny Zayat, is on trial in the NSW Supreme Court after pleading not guilty to her murder.

The 30-year-old is accused of inflicting one or more blows to Dokhotaru's head, possibly in combination with a push that caused her to fall.

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In the lead-up to her death, Dokhotaru, also known as Tanya, told a friend about an ugly fight she had with Zayat after he went through her phone and saw her messages with other men.

He dragged her by her hair, spat at her "like 20 times", threw her phone, and threatened to kill her, according to a text she sent to her friend Arian Monchizada.

"I was fighting him off. I tried calling the cops, but he said he'll kill me if I do," she wrote on April 13.

"It was absolute hell. My body is in shock. My mind is too."

In the messages read out in court, Dokhotaru confided that she felt "so humiliated and violated" after the alleged assault and she was struggling to process it.

Weeks later, she wrote that Zayat attacked her a second time after claiming she had been messaging his friend.

"He strangled me so bad (sic), my throat is so bruised and swollen, I can barely breathe," Dokhotaru texted Monchizada on May 1.

Zayat's mother, Jamile, was giving evidence on Thursday afternoon about her knowledge of her son's whereabouts after Dokhotaru's death.

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On Monday, Dokhotaru's parents, who live in Canada, testified about Zayat's regular abusive phone calls to their daughter during a visit in 2022.

The prosecution alleges Zayat had a tendency to be violent and abusive towards his partner during their dysfunctional relationship and after they split up.

An interim two-year apprehended domestic violence order was taken out in a local court in May 2022 to protect Dokhotaru, the jury was told.

But Zayat rejected claims he was violent towards Dokhotaru or had anything to do with her death, his lawyer told the jury.

Defence barrister Madeleine Avenell SC said her client did not deny he had been in a "volatile and dysfunctional" relationship with Dokhotaru, but he didn't kill her.

The trial continues.

Support is available from the National Sexual Assault, Domestic and Family Violence Counselling Service at 1800RESPECT (1800 737 732).