Ellie accused to face trial

THE ex-boyfriend of slain mum Ellie Price has been grilled in court over a series of phone calls he made to her mother and accused killer after her body was found.

Ricardo Barbaro, 34, is charged with murdering the young Tasmanian mum at her South Melbourne home on April 29 last year. Mr Barbaro claims she was alive when he was captured on CCTV leaving her flat about 4.30am.

Her body, riddled with stab wounds, was found on May 4.

Ms Price’s former lover Semair Shaaban gave evidence in Melbourne Magistrates’ Court on Friday — the final day of Mr Barbaro’s five-day committal hearing. Mr Shaaban told the court when he saw the news a woman’s body had been found he suspected it was Ms Price and rang her mother, Tracey Gangell, in Tasmania.

“She just said ‘she’s gone, she’s gone — they found her black and blue’. After that I was just trying to process what’s going on.”

Mr Barbaro’s lawyer, Mark Gumbleton, questioned what made him think it was Ms Price. He said he had a “weird” feeling after the report mentioned a Park St address and he knew the 26-year-old had moved to that street. The court heard Mr Shaaban later called Mr Barbaro, who he knew as Ms Price’s new partner, to see if he knew what happened to the young mother. But Mr Shaaban said he had no recollection of what was said. He could not recall details of his relationship with Ms Price. Mr Gumbleton asked Mr Shaaban if he had faced court charged over being violent towards Ms Price.

He recalled her neighbours filing a complaint and being taken to the police station and later appearing in court where he was supposedly found not guilty. Magistrate Susan Wakeling on Friday found there was “sufficient evidence to support conviction” and ordered Mr Barbaro stand trial. He pleaded not guilty to murder and will appear on June 4.