On a cold winter's afternoon in 2011, eight people were crammed inside Boronika Hothnyang's public housing flat in Dandenong, south-east of Melbourne.

Key points: In 2012, Hothnyang was found guilty and sentenced to a minimum of 10 years and six months in jail for her best friend's murder

In 2012, Hothnyang was found guilty and sentenced to a minimum of 10 years and six months in jail for her best friend's murder She has maintained her innocence, saying she "can't kill a chicken or a fly"

She has maintained her innocence, saying she "can't kill a chicken or a fly" A prominent Victorian silk, who has taken an interest in the case, said the witness's history of dishonesty should have given the jury pause

All of her seven guests were men and some had been drinking heavily for days.

In the space of half an hour, the party became a crime scene. Between 3:30pm and 4:00pm, William Awu was fatally stabbed in the heart.

The men who were there at the time gave police conflicting accounts of what happened, although most of them described an incident in which Mr Awu drew an unflattering cartoon of Hothnyang, depicting her as overweight.

Hothnyang, who claimed to be asleep when Mr Awu was killed, was subsequently arrested and charged with the murder of her best friend.

In 2012, following a trial by jury, she was found guilty and sentenced to a minimum of 10 years and six months in jail.

As Hothnyang enters the second half of her prison term, Background Briefing has obtained new information that raises serious questions about the strength of the case against her.

A small team of lawyers is convinced there has been a miscarriage of justice and is trying to overturn her conviction.

Is Hothnyang a killer who was too drunk to remember committing the crime for which she has been jailed, or has the judicial system failed to provide justice for a vulnerable, disadvantaged woman?

'I can't kill a chicken or a fly'

RMIT University's Bridge of Hope Innocence Initiative, which examines cases in which a person may have been wrongfully convicted, has taken an interest in Hothnyang.

The director of the program, Dr Michele Ruyters, is in regular contact with the 31-year-old, who speaks to her over the phone from inside the maximum security Dame Phyllis Frost Correctional Centre.

During one of their conversations last December, Hothnyang maintained her innocence — a position she has always held, even in the face of a plea bargain that meant she would have been released by now.

"I can't kill a chicken or a fly" she told Dr Ruyters.

"How am I going to kill someone?"

If you or anyone you know needs help: Lifeline on 13 11 14

Lifeline on 13 11 14 Kids Helpline on 1800 551 800

Kids Helpline on 1800 551 800 MensLine Australia on 1300 789 978

MensLine Australia on 1300 789 978 Beyond Blue on 1300 22 46 36

Beyond Blue on 1300 22 46 36 Headspace on 1800 650 890

Hothnyang is no angel. She has had a difficult life marred by substance abuse and toxic relationships. Before she was sent to prison, she was a severe alcoholic who would drink a cask of wine each day.

In the months leading up to Mr Awu's murder, her drinking spiralled out of control and she was unable to care for her children.

During sentencing, Hothnyang was described by Judge Betty King of the Victorian Supreme Court as an aggressive drunk who had been admitted to a psychiatric unit multiple times after self-harming.

Each of her three children has a different father, all of whom Judge King acknowledged had abused, neglected, or rejected her.

Despite this troubled past, a former social worker who asked to remain anonymous insists Hothnyang is not a murderer.

"She's so harmless," the worker told Background Briefing.

"The abuse that she's been involved in has been abuse inflicted on her," they said.

"She was an extremely non-aggressive, passive sort of woman."

Hothnyang's close friendship with the man she is convicted of murdering is one of the most confounding aspects of the case.

The 31-year-old says she considered Mr Awu family. In fact, he is credited with saving her life.

Boronika Hothnyang has always maintained her innocence. ( Supplied )

Hothnyang arrived in Australia as a refugee from Sudan when she was around 15 years old. Her family had arranged for her to marry someone but she fell pregnant to another man.

The reaction from her community was swift and unforgiving. Hothnyang became isolated and severely depressed.

"Nobody would talk with her because she was having the baby outside of marriage so she had gone to jump off a bridge here in Dandenong," said her friend Deb, whose surname has been withheld.

"A young man saw her and came to the top of the bridge to talk with her."

That young man was Mr Awu. He managed to defuse the situation before contacting police and paramedics.

"He stayed with her to convince her she needed to live for her baby," Deb told Background Briefing.

Their friendship blossomed. Mr Awu would cook for Hothnyang. When he was sick with tuberculosis, she moved into her flat so she could take care of him.

Judge Betty King of the Victorian Supreme Court said the murder seemed inexplicable given the close relationship between the pair. In her remarks, she described Mr Awu's death as a "motiveless" crime.

A credible witness or a liar?

There were six men in the apartment on the day Mr Awu was killed, but only one of them was prepared to take the stand during the murder trial and claim to have seen Hothnyang commit the crime.

Paul (not his real name) described watching her pull a knife out of a drawer.

"I was directly looking at her," he said.

"She just went into the kitchen, then came from there with her arm on her back, then just toward William and stabbed William then."

Paul told the court he saw Hothnyang, who is a tall woman, bend over and stab Mr Awu in a downward motion.

But his account is inconsistent with an autopsy report, which concluded the knife was driven upward into Mr Awu's body to a depth of 12 centimetres.

In order to find Hothnyang guilty, Judge King told the jury it would have to accept Paul's version of events.

Victorian Supreme Court Judge Betty King described Mr Awu's murder as a "motiveless crime". ( ABC News )

A prominent Victorian silk, who has taken an interest in the case, said the witness's history of dishonesty should have given the jury pause.

"There's something terribly wrong here because it all turns on the evidence of one person with a large criminal record," said Gerard Nash, QC.

In 2002, Paul pleaded guilty to numerous charges including applying for finance in a false name, obtaining thousands of dollars by deception, and falsifying documents - including a driver's licence.

Two years later, he gave a false name and address to police. Then, in 2013, he was convicted again for a raft of similar offences.

Mr Nash said Paul's claims and credibility as a witness should have come under more scrutiny during the trial.

"He is a man who is prepared to lie if it suits him," Mr Nash said.

"In many ways, his veracity, I think, was very much not only a matter in issue but was very relevant."

Documents reveal new information

On the afternoon Mr Awu was killed, Hothnyang was heavily intoxicated. She was fast asleep when police arrived at her flat.

Officers found her in bed along with her boyfriend, a man we'll call Joshua. The body of the victim William Awu was in the lounge.

Hothnyang has always rejected the suggestion she may have been too drunk to remember murdering her best friend.

According to Hothnyang, who is right-handed, she had an injury at the time and lacked the necessary strength to stab someone.

The injury was sustained in 2008, three years before Mr Awu's murder. Hothnyang was crossing the road while drunk when she was hit by a car.

Medical records released under Freedom of Information laws support this claim.

The records show Hothnyang visited a doctor in 2010, complaining of a sore right arm. She was in so much pain, she said she was unable to hold teacups and other possessions without dropping them.

A separate assessment completed four days after Mr Awu's death indicates Hothnyang still had limited movement.

The injury flared up again in 2016 when her arm became so swollen, she was taken to hospital where she underwent surgery.

A year later, Victoria's statutory third-party insurer decided the car accident had left her with a permanent impairment and approved a payout.

When asked by Dr Ruyters whether she could have killed Mr Awu, Hothnyang responded with an emphatic "No".

"It's still painful," she said from prison.

'She rang me to say goodbye'

In addition to her right arm, Hothnyang had another injury at the time of the murder.

According to her friend Deb, she had three months earlier been hurt during an argument with her then partner.

A panicked Hothnyang phoned Deb after barricading herself in her bedroom, fearing Joshua (not his real name) would kill her.

An alcohol addiction meant Boronika Hothnyang could no longer care for her three children in the months before Mr Awu's murder. ( Supplied )

"She made the door stuck, were her words," Deb said.

"It didn't sound like the door was going to hold.

"She rang me to say goodbye."

Deb raced over to Hothnyang's flat. As she entered the driveway, she saw Joshua covered in blood.

She said he appeared to be slurring his words as he tried to reassure worried onlookers that nobody had been hurt.

"I was watching them starting to step backwards because, clearly, they realised this was a pretty dangerous situation," she said.

When she spoke to Dr Ruyters late last year, Hothnyang shared what she remembers from that night.

She claims Joshua bashed her and cut her with something — exactly what, she is not sure. Eventually, she says she pushed him away and escaped from the flat.

When police found Hothnyang the next morning, she refused to give a statement.

But a doctor's report, seen by Background Briefing, shows Hothnyang visited her general practitioner around the same time, complaining of a laceration on her right hand.

"Her ex-boyfriend came to her house yesterday and cut her with a knife on the right hand," the report states.

"He was drunk and looking for trouble."

It is possible the ex-boyfriend mentioned in the report was someone other than Joshua, although the name is spelled similarly. Hothnyang had also been in a relationship with Joshua for almost a year.

It is also possible that Hothnyang, then a troubled alcoholic, sustained the injury herself.

Regardless, the doctor's report indicates, less than two weeks before Mr Awu is fatally stabbed directly in the heart, Hothnyang had injured both her dominant hand and arm.

Innocence project re-examines case

Less than three years after the murder, Joshua was part of a vicious assault at another Dandenong home where everyone had been drinking.

Joshua repeatedly kicked the victim before grabbing a knife from the kitchen and threatening to kill them.

He pleaded guilty to recklessly causing injury but was released on a community corrections order. The sentencing judge decided not to send him to prison as he suffered from "dreadful schizophrenia" and needed to undergo a medical assessment for alcohol abuse.

The victim spent 10 days in intensive care. The top of his skull had to be surgically removed for a month to treat a haemorrhage and blood clots sustained during the attack. He is still recovering.

Dr Ruyters from RMIT's Bridge of Hope Innocence Initiative said she is keen to make contact with Hothnyang's ex-boyfriend.

"We would be very interested in speaking to her partner," she said.

As Dr Ruyters continues her work, Hothnyang is about halfway through her 14-year jail term.

Had she pled guilty in exchange for a reduced sentence when she had the chance, she may have been released by now. But her former social worker understands why the deal was rejected.

"In hindsight, if I was in that situation, I reckon I might take a plea, but I just thought it was ridiculous," they said.

"Why would you do five years for something you didn't do?"

To convict someone of murder, there must be sufficient evidence to prove their guilt beyond reasonable doubt.

While Dr Ruyters says it is impossible to say with any certainty whether Hothnyang killed Mr Awu, she believes there is sufficient cause to re-examine the case.

