The mother of a slain woman has denied she was involved in a plot to “not give truthful evidence” as her daughter’s boyfriend faces court accused of murder.
Ellie Price, 26, was found dead in the blood-soaked bedroom of her South Melbourne apartment in 2020.
This week, the Supreme Court trial of her former boyfriend, Ricardo Barbaro, began after the accused man denied he was responsible for her murder.
Ms Price’s mother, Tracey Gangell, returned to the witness box on Wednesday and was grilled by Mr Barbaro’s barrister, Rishi Nathwani, over contact with another man, Mark Gray, after Ms Price’s death.
Mr Nathwani suggested text messages between Mr Gray and Ms Gangell indicated he was “spending a lot of money on Ellie”, questioning whether he was her “sugar daddy”.
Mr Nathwani told the court that 1600 pages of messages between Mr Gray and Ms Price’s sister, Danielle, had been uncovered before the trial began.
He suggested, and Ms Gangell denied, that the messages revealed a plan between the trio to “not give truthful evidence” at Mr Barbaro’s earlier court appearance.
“Through the messages, there appears to be a plan by Mr Gray involving you and your daughter to not give truthful evidence about 1) Mr Gray’s connection to brothels, 2) money he gave to Ms Price and 3) her job or anything to damage her image,” he said.
He told the jury that no messages were found between Mr Gray and Ms Gangell, questioning whether she had deleted them.
Mr Gangell denied this was the case, telling the court her previous phone had broken and she did not transfer over her details because she wasn’t technically savvy.
While questioning Ms Gangell, Mr Nathwani suggested that Mr Gray had given them instructions on how to answer questions in court.
“My tip is to memorise three responses; I don’t know, not to my knowledge, and I’m not sure, they will hate that LOL,” Mr Gray allegedly messaged Danielle in May 2021.
“Be prepared to protect Ellie, I know you will.”
In his opening remarks to the jury on Monday, Mr Nathwani said questions would be raised about whether others had a motive for Ms Price’s death.
“It’s not in dispute that Ellie Price worked in the adult entertainment industry,” he said.
“Did she upset anyone to a degree they would want to harm her?”
Prosecutors, led by Damien Hannan, allege that Mr Barbaro murdered Ms Price in a “violent altercation” during an early morning argument on April 29 before leaving her home in Ms Price’s Mercedes-Benz “never to return”.
She was reported missing by Ms Gangell, who lived in Tasmania, six days later after several days of failed attempts to contact her.
During a welfare check on May 4, police found her body with six stab wounds and an 8cm cut to her throat.
Mr Hannan said the prosecution would allege Mr Barbaro visited his father, Joe Barbaro, in Melbourne’s west before renting a van.
It’s alleged he drove to NSW, where he was arrested on May 13, “shortly” after Joe told his son that detectives had visited looking for him.
The trial, before Justice Lex Lasry, continues.
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