Gable Tostee: Screaming, shouts of 'no' captured prior to Warriena Wright's balcony fall, court hears.

An audio recording of a fight between Gable Tostee and the woman he is accused of murdering includes noises “consistent with her being choked or strangled in some way”, a Brisbane court has heard.

Tostee today pleaded not guilty to murdering New Zealand tourist Warriena Wright on the Gold Coast in August 2014.

Ms Wright, 26, fell from a balcony located on the 14th floor of a Surfers Paradise apartment block.

Tostee, 30, was living in the apartment at the time.

The Supreme Court trial is underway after a jury was empanelled this morning.

Opening the crown case, prosecutor Glen Cash said Ms Wright and Tostee first made contact on the dating app Tinder on August 1, 2014.

They arranged to meet in Cavill Avenue on Thursday August 7 about 8:45pm, went to a bottle shop to buy beer and then went to Tostee’s 14th floor apartment in the Avalon building.

Mr Cash said the crown would allege that over the next few hours they drank alcohol and were intimate before an altercation occurred in the early hours of Friday morning.

He said a key piece of evidence was an audio recording of the events leading up to Ms Wright’s death, made on Tostee’s phone.

He said of particular interest was the altercation that happened prior to her being locked on the balcony.

Mr Cash said the recording would be played and included noises “consistent with her being choked or strangled in some way”.

The court would “hear noises of her screaming, shouting ‘no’,” he said.

“The defendant was inside the apartment having locked Warriena outside on the balcony.

“The defendant did not throw Warriena over the balcony, he did not push her over the balcony.”

Mr Cash said they would allege Ms Wright had no other means of escaping other than climbing over the balcony, and she fell to her death when she tried to do so.

Defence lawyer disputes choking claim

Tostee’s barrister Saul Holt QC disputed the suggestion Ms Wright was choked or strangled.

He told the court there was no evidence this occurred, arguing Tostee had merely restrained Ms Wright in self-defence.

Mr Holt said during the altercation Ms Wright had become “increasingly erratic” and had thrown rocks at Tostee and hit him with a parts from a telescope.

Mr Holt said Tostee had repeatedly asked Ms Wright to stop and asked her to leave, and the recording would show that.

He said it was within the law for someone to use reasonable force to defend themselves or their property.

“It is a desperate tragedy that Warriena Wright died,” Mr Holt said.

“This is a case where what happened is relatively straightforward.”

More than 20 witnesses are expected to testify before Justice John Byrne.

Tostee was granted bail in November 2014 on the condition he lived with his parents, refrained from using online dating sites and received treatment for a diagnosed alcohol problem.

This post originally appeared on ABC News.

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