Tinder murder trial begins

The trial for a man accused of killing Lower Hutt woman Warriena Tagpuno Wright after meeting her on the dating app Tinder has begun in Brisbane.

Gable Tostee went on trial yesterday afternoon after Wright, who was holidaying in Australia when she met the accused, fell 14 floors to her death from his Surfers Paradise apartment in August 2014.

Tostee was arrested and charged with murder over the 26-year-old’s death a week later. He has previously said Wright’s death was a tragic accident that happened when she was trying to climb down to an apartment below.

The 30-year-old was flanked by his parents and lawyers as he entered the Brisbane Supreme Court.

Wright’s mother, Beth Wright, broke down in tears as Tostee officially pleaded not guilty to murder at the start of the trial, before Justice John Byrne.

Set to take seven to eight days in the Brisbane Supreme Court, the case is touted as Queensland’s biggest trial this year.

Police allege the pair had sex, before the encounter turned into a violent struggle that ended with Wright being locked outside, alone, on Tostee’s balcony.

While police say Tostee was not with Wright when she fell, they nonetheless charged him with murder.

A year after Wright’s death, Tostee proclaimed his innocence, saying the case against him was ‘‘flimsy’’.

‘‘I understand that, when a tragedy occurs, it is natural for people to want to blame someone, but the outcome of this was not something that I never at any point could have expected.’’