A man accused of killing his girlfriend and leaving her body in a wheelie bin inside her Woonona unit on NSW's south coast 11 years ago allegedly told people he "bashed" her and put her in the bin, a jury has heard.
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David Bagster, 55, is facing trial in the Wollongong District Court for the manslaughter of Valmai Jane Birch, to which he has pleaded not guilty.
The body of 34-year-old Ms Birch, who went by Jane, was found in her Woods Avenue unit on March 21, 2011 after a neighbour called police to report an increasingly bad odour.
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Her right ankle was tied to her waist and she was upside-down in a wheelie bin, which was partially filled with water and found in the shower recess of the bathroom.
In his opening address to the jury on Monday, the Crown prosecutor said Ms Birch had been in a relationship with Bagster, whom she met about May 2010.
"The Crown case is that the relationship between Jane and Mr Bagster was one marred by repeated aggression and violence by Mr Bagster towards Jane, which included threatening her, assaulting her and tying her up," the Crown prosecutor said.
On occasions Ms Birch complained to friends and acquaintances that Bagster had struck her, the court heard, and he had hog-tied or tied her up.
Both she and Bagster had a history of drug abuse.
On March 9 2011, the last day she was seen alive, Ms Birch was captured on CCTV with Bagster at Wollongong railway station, and later footage showed her alone in Woonona.
The court heard the last sighting was about 3pm that day, when a neighbour helped her into her unit after discovering her passed out across the road.
Bagster was seen knocking at the door of the unit and looking in windows 15 to 30 minutes later, the jury was told, and was again seen there late the following evening knocking on the door and fiddling with doors and windows before walking away.
The prosecutor said a female scream, which the Crown said was mostly likely Ms Birch, was heard from the unit about 11.30pm on March 12.
The jury heard that by March 15, residents noticed a bad smell and on March 21, Bagster went to a neighbour of Ms Birch and said he was concerned because he had not seen her for two or three weeks.
He allegedly commented the odour must have been the garbage but that evening a worried neighbour called police and Ms Birch's body was discovered.
Inside the unit officers also found a fan in the lounge room and an exhaust fan in the kitchen running.
The jury heard two fingerprints and a DNA profile matching Bagster's were found on the bin, and DNA matching Bagster's was also found on the fan switch.
Police also discovered a five-page handwritten note, which the Crown prosecutor said Bagster had written, in which he falsely suggested that he had seen other people in the unit.
Following media reports about the discovery of Ms Birch's body, the court heard, Bagster spoke to her friends and acquaintances and allegedly said "we got on the pills last night, I bashed her in the bathtub, I couldn't get her out so I lifted her into the wheelie bin".
Due to decomposition, a forensic pathologist could not determine the cause of Ms Birch's death.
In police interviews, Bagster denied that arguments with Ms Birch turned physical and he had ever tied her up.
"He denied any responsibility or knowledge as to Jane's death," the Crown prosecutor said.
Bagster's defence counsel Scott Fraser told the court that it was not in dispute that Ms Birch and Bagster used drugs, but it meant that as a couple they moved in circles with people who used and sold drugs.
Many of the witnesses the Crown relied upon to established the alleged history of Bagster's violence were in these circles, he said, and whether they could be regarded as reliable or having an ulterior motive would be in an issue in the trial.
"The assertion that the relationship was one that was characterised by violence by Mr Bagster towards Ms Birch is very much in dispute," Mr Fraser said.
He said ultimately the primary issue would be "a simple one": could the jury be satisfied, on the evidence presented, that Bagster was responsible for Ms Birch's death.
The trial continues.