Simon Gittany will serve his full non-parole sentence of 18 years in jail, after the NSW Court of Criminal Appeal dismissed his appeal of the murder conviction handed to him in 2013.
Gittany was found guilty of murdering his then-fiancee Lisa Harnum in July of 2011 by throwing her off the balcony of his 15th floor Sydney apartment. He was sentenced to 26 years prison, with a non-parole period of 18 years, in November of 2013.
The trail heard that Gittany was a violent, abusive, jealous, and possessive partner, who monitored Harnum’s movements via CCTV cameras he had installed to track her, and read her emails and text via a surveillance computer program.
The court heard that Gittany flew into a violent, uncontrollable rage after learning that Harnum was making plans to escape him and leave the relationship, which resulted in him pushing her off the balcony to her death.
Gittany’s appeal centred on the reliability of an eye witness to the crime whose memory they claimed would have been influenced by what he learned about the incident after the fact.
The Court of Appeal dismissed Gittany’s claim outright.
He will not be eligible for parole until May, 2031.
Source: 9News.
