The grieving mother of allegedly murdered Melbourne woman Ellie Price has broken down in the witness box under intense questioning, as defence lawyers combed through her daughter's sex life, drug use, an abortion and a possible rape allegation.
Ricardo Barbaro, 34, appeared in the Melbourne Magistrates' Court where he is facing a hearing to test the evidence against him after being charged with the murder of Ms Price, whose body was found at her South Melbourne apartment in May last year.
Ms Price's mother, Tracey Gangell, sobbed in court as she gave evidence about one of the last conversations the pair had by video call, prompting the magistrate to end the hearing prematurely.
"She had some fear in her eye," Ms Gangell said through tears.
"Just to see that look on her face, and I still see her face on the phone."
Ms Gangell told the court Mr Barbaro was "constantly calling" her daughter while she was visiting Tasmania two months before her death.
Defence barrister Mark Gumbleton probed her about Ms Price's past boyfriends, mental health and her job at the Men's Gallery, a strip club in Melbourne.
"Ellie didn't report to you everything that she did in terms of physical interactions with other people?" Dr Gumbleton asked.
"No," Ms Gangell said.
"There seems to have been a second pregnancy that Ellie decided to abort . were you aware of that abortion?" he asked.
"Yes," she said.
Mother knew 'something wasn't right'
Ms Gangell became emotional after being asked by Dr Gumbleton about her daughter's relationship to businessman Mark Gray.
"Did he ever tell you that he was connected to brothels," Dr Gumbleton asked.
"No," Ms Gangell said.
The court heard that in the lead-up to her daughter's death, Ms Gangell had received messages from Mr Gray declaring he did not want anything to do with her daughter.
"What she had threatened to do to Mr Gray was that unless she was given money by him, she was going to go to the police and claim that he had raped her," Dr Gumbleton told the court.
The court heard Ms Gangell raised the allegation with her daughter in a video call.
"I will never forget the look on her face when I asked her about it," Ms Gangell said.
"And I started asking, going mad at her, what was going on, and then [Mr Barbaro] put his head in the back of the phone and said, 'Yeah go on, tell your mum what you did,'" she said, weeping.
"She had no words, she couldn't say anything.
"My daughter might have been up and down sometimes with her mood but she was never like that, ever.
"I knew straight away that . something wasn't right."
The hearing continues.