THE CROWN CASE

WARRIENA Wright tried to climb down the 14th-floor balcony of Gable Tostee’s apartment because she feared for her life, Crown prosecutor Glen Cash QC argued.

The New Zealand tourist thought Tostee intended to cause her serious injury after an altercation in which he held Ms Wright in an armhold where she could not breathe.

Ms Wright’s actions in trying to climb from the balcony were reasonable, rational and proportionate under the circumstances, Mr Cash said.

He told the jury they should be persuaded beyond reasonable doubt the accused Tinder-date killer was guilty of murder.

If they were not convinced Tostee intended to cause Ms Wright grievous bodily harm, they could return a verdict of manslaughter, he said.

Mr Cash told the jury there “probably was an unlawful assault by Warriena Wright on Mr Tostee” when she threw ornamental rocks at him and tried to hit him with presumably the metal clamp from a small telescope.

However, he said the jury should find Tostee guilty because he used force beyond what was “reasonably necessary”.

“Whatever danger was represented by the throwing of the rocks ... very quickly he (Tostee) had that under control and Warriena Wright restrained,” Mr Cash said.

He said once the 26-yearold was on the floor she was held with her face in the carpet.

Tostee’s conduct amounted to intimidation and by restricting Ms Wright’s breath, he intended to cause grievous bodily harm, he said.

Mr Cash said an ordinary person would have foreseen that Ms Wright would try to climb from the balcony and fall to her death, given the circumstances.

Locking the door and cutting off her means of escape amounted to intimidation, he argued.

“If you are persuaded the defendant’s conduct gave her such fear ... then he has caused her death as much as if he had pushed her from the balcony.

“She did not have an option to leave through the front door.”

Mr Cash said the panic in Ms Wright’s voice showed she feared Tostee, adding the accused had previously made threats to throw her from the balcony and when she asked to “go home” he replied, “I would, but you’ve been a bad girl”.

“It was terror, bordering on hysteria,” Mr Cash said.

It was “fear of Gable Tostee, fear of what he would do to her if he let her back inside”.

Mr Cash also told the jury Ms Wright did not have her telephone. It was later found in Tostee’s pocket. “You’ve heard for yourself the panic and desperation in her voice and that speaks more powerfully than I ever could have of the cause of her death.”