Murderer Simon Gittany's violent and drug-dealing past revealed

Updated

More details are emerging about the criminal past of Simon Gittany, who was found guilty yesterday of murdering his fiancée Lisa Harnum.

Justice Lucy McCallum reached the verdict yesterday, finding the 40-year-old threw Ms Harnum to her death from their 15th floor inner Sydney apartment in July 2011.

It took the judge four-and-a-half hours to finish reading her lengthy judgment.

The ABC has now confirmed that Gittany was no stranger to the courts when the trial began.

He was first arrested in 1991.

In October 1991, just over a week after turning 18, Gittany was charged with assault occasioning actual bodily harm.

Gittany was confronted by the employer of an ex-girlfriend and told to stop harassing her in a western Sydney shopping centre.

Police facts in the case said Gittany returned an hour later with up to 12 other men.

The victim was then held while Gittany punched him in the face several times.

Gittany was then caught with stolen items in his car outside a Parramatta nightclub in August 1993.

When police attended his family home in May 1994 after he failed to attend court, he assaulted two detectives.

He was charged with maliciously wounding one of them after biting off part of the detective's ear.

In 2000 Gittany was convicted of drug supply.

Despite the convictions Gittany never served a full-time prison sentence.

A wake-up call to the dangers

Support groups have warned the controlling and manipulative behaviour of Gittany is typical of perpetrators of domestic violence.

Justice McCallum yesterday characterised Gittany as a jealous and controlling man who had flown into a rage when he found out his fiancée was leaving him.

Key evidence from Gittany trial

The tragic final moments of Lisa Harnum's life were replayed in a murder trial that has captured the public's attention. The tragic final moments of Lisa Harnum's life were replayed in a murder trial that has captured the public's attention. Look back at the key evidence

"I do not think there can be any doubt that the accused was controlling, dominating and at times abusive," the judge said.

"The force of his jealous and controlling personality met mixed resistance from Lisa Harnum, who was at times defiant, at times submissive."

The chief executive of the White Ribbon support group, Libby Davies, says Gittany's actions towards Ms Harnum before her death are common tactics in cases of domestic violence.

"Manipulative behaviours means blocking people's access to their friends, to their support networks. It can mean blocking access to their finances," she said.

Domestic Violence NSW chief executive Tracy Howe says there are thousands of Australian women living in similar relationships.

"He is such a stereotype and what is really sad is that we try to avoid having that discussion with people that we see in this situation," she said.

During the Gittany trial the Supreme Court heard that Ms Harnum told a personal trainer and a counsellor that restrictions had been placed on her clothing, hair, work and general movements.

There were CCTV cameras both inside and outside the couple's unit and Gittany was secretly monitoring Ms Harnum's text messages through a computer program he installed on her phone.

"The accused's views as to the degree of surveillance and control a person is entitled to exercise over his or her partner are not to be attributed to the ordinary person," Justice McCallum said yesterday.

The support groups are hopeful the case will help prompt other victims and their friends and family to act.

"Really, if there's anything to be learned by this, just open up the dialogue with anyone you suspect is in this situation," said Tracy Howe from Domestic Violence NSW.

"What they can take from it is justification that non-physical abuse can lead to the most ultimate of results which is death.

"If this kind of stuff is happening to women who are your friends or your family or your sisters you have to listen to the signs and know that this is serious."

"I think it is becoming uncovered now. The secret of this insidious issue across Australia is certainly gaining much greater attention and focus, and women are feeling more confident," Libby Davies from White Ribbon said.

"Around White Ribbon Day, for example, we see a spike in women reporting domestic violence."

Gittany is due to be sentenced in February.

Topics: murder-and-manslaughter, domestic-violence, sydney-2000

First posted