Ottawa woman sees daughter’s fiancé convicted in her death

SYDNEY, Australia A jealous Australian man has been convicted of murdering his Canadian fiancée in the summer of 2011 by throwing her from a downtown Sydney highrise in a “fit of rage.”

A judge found that Simon Gittany killed Lisa Harnum when he threw her off the 15th-floor balcony of their apartment. Harnum, a former ballerina who grew up near Toronto, was 30 years old when she died.

Gittany, 37 at the time of the murder, barely moved as the judge said she was satisfied beyond reasonable doubt that he had murdered Harnum.

Speaking outside court, Harnum’s mother, Joan — who travelled to Australia from Ottawa to see justice done for her daughter — said there are no winners in this case and that “two families have had their lives dramatically changed forever.”

The court had heard how 69 seconds before Harnum died, a hallway security camera installed by her jealous fiancé captured him violently dragging her back into their home, his hand over her mouth.

Seconds later, the camera captured Gittany clutching his head in evident distress on his way down to the lobby in an elevator.

Prosecutors’ theory was that a jealous and possessive Gittany took control over Harnum’s life, ordered her not to look at other men, monitored her text messages, and then, in a rage at her attempt to leave him, threw her over the balcony of their rented apartment, purse and all.

A police officer would later find a note torn to bits in her jeans pocket, with a heart-stopping message: “There are surveillance cameras inside and outside the house.”

Her mother Joan described her daughter’s fearful attempts to leave him.

“I told her if things got really bad, just to grab her passport and purse and get out, that her things don’t matter,” Joan Harnum said.

Gittany will be sentenced Feb. 5.