Jury rejects ‘true love’ defence to DV bashing murder
A violent man has been found guilty of murdering his ex-partner shortly after a triple zero call that he was trying to kill her was cut short.
Tatiana “Tanya” Dokhotaru died on the night of May 26, 2023, in her 22nd-floor flat in south-west Sydney.
“Yes, hello. My ex-boyfriend is here and he’s trying to kill me,” she told the operator during the 89-second call.
Danny Zayat was found guilty of murder by a majority verdict in the NSW Supreme Court on Thursday following a month-long jury trial.
The 30-year-old woman’s lawyer had claimed that messages he sent to Ms Dokhotaru weeks before his death refuted claims that he badly beat her in an attempt to end her life.
The messages Zayat sent showed he loved and cared for her despite their volatile and dysfunctional relationship, the jury was told.
Zayat texted her on May 6: “I really wish things were different between us but I’m a mess… I don’t want to keep dragging you along like I did.”
“You will always be my first true love, and I don’t think I could ever love anyone else as much as I love you.”
Zayat’s barrister, Madeleine Avenell SC, argued there was a reasonable possibility that Ms Dokhotaru’s fatal brain injury was the result of accidents rather than three injuries deliberately caused by Zayat.
But the 11-1 verdict showed the jury sided with the Crown, who extensively detailed Zayat’s previous violence and control over his victim.
Ms Dokhotaru had confessed to a friend that her ex-partner had allegedly dragged her by the hair, spat on her repeatedly and threatened to kill her during the fight.
“I was fighting with him. I tried calling the police but he said he would kill me if I did,” she wrote on April 13.
“It was pure hell. My body is in shock. So is my mind.”
In messages read out in court, Ms Dokhotaru admitted she felt “very humiliated and raped” after the alleged attack and was trying to process it.
Weeks later, she said, her friend Zayat attacked her again after she claimed she was texting with her friend.
“He strangled me so bad my throat is so bruised and swollen I can barely breathe,” Ms Dokhotaru wrote on May 1.
Ms. Dokhotaru’s parents, who live in Canada, testified in October that Zayat regularly made abusive phone calls to their daughter during his visit in 2022.
Zayat was kept in custody until his sentencing on December 19.
Judge Desmond Fagan rejected the defense’s request not to proceed with sentencing so quickly, although he heard that state-funded psychological and psychiatric reports would have to be prepared.
“Legal Aid should consider this immediately… and someone should make preparations to receive this grant,” he said.
Ms Dokhotaru’s parents were not in Australia for the decisions.
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