Kiwi woman Warriena Wright met Gable Tostee while on vacation in Australia via Tinder. In the early morning of August 8, 2014, she fell to her death from his balcony after an extended argument that ended with him locking her outside.
The Guardian reports that a recording of their argument exposes Tostee’s threats towards Wright, and her pleas to for him to allow her to leave his apartment:
Tostee then told Wright: “You’re lucky I haven’t chucked you off my balcony, you goddamn little psycho bitch….
“I’m gonna slam the door on you. If you try to pull anything I’ll knock you out, I’ll knock you the fuck out,” he said.
Wright then allegedly tried to hit Tostee with the clamp from a telescope, which prompted him to lock her out on the balcony.
“You think if you hit me I’ll just fall down like in the movies?” he said.
Wright repeatedly screamed “No, just let me go home” but Tostee told her, “I would but you have been a bad girl.”
The 199-minute recording was made by Tostee, and includes sounds that were interpreted by the prosecution as Tostee choking or strangling Wright. Tostee’s lawyer, Saul Holt, told the jury that Wright’s drinking had made her behavior erratic, and Tostee had to use “reasonable force” to subdue her.
The crown prosecutor, Ben Power, argued that Tostee is responsible for Wright’s death, having terrified her and contained her in a space with no safe escape route. Witnesses testified to seeing Wright’s legs dangling as she attempted to climb over the edge of the balcony. Power told the court, “He had a choice of whether to allow the victim to leave. She was pleading with him to let her go…He through that act deprived her of her liberty.”
The jury in the case was instructed that they could only find Tostee guilty of murder if they believed beyond a reasonable doubt that he intended to “cause her grievous bodily harm.” The option to convict Tostee of manslaughter was available if they found him to have “unlawfully” killed Wright, but without intention to cause her bodily harm. He was cleared of all charges.
