The Fall
How Simon Gittany Killed Lisa Harnum.
By Amy Dale.
It is reported that, in Australia, one woman is killed at the hands of her partner, or former partner, every week.
On July 30, 2011 a terrified woman runs for the door of the 15th storey, inner Sydney apartment she shares with her cruel and controlling fiancé, desperately trying to escape. She isn’t quick enough. A hidden camera captures him covering her mouth to suppress her screams and dragging her back inside. Sixty-nine seconds later, Lisa Harnum is dead.
This is the case that captured the nation.
Simon Gittany was accused of killing his fianceé. He claimed she climbed over the edge of their balcony and slipped. The prosecution argued he threw her over in a fit of apoplectic rage. As the trial unfolded, we learned more about Lisa and her relationship with Simon. His past violence, biting the ear off a policeman. His controlling nature. The cameras inside the apartment. How he was able to read all her text messages. She was planning to leave him, with the help of her counsellor and personal trainer.
Amy Dale, Chief Court Reporter for The Daily Telegraph, covered the case from the very beginning. Speaking to numerous sources including Lisa’s mother, brother and cousin, her childhood friends, police involved with the investigation and Lisa’s counsellor, The Fall goes behind the headlines of Australia’s most captivating court case to tell the suffocating story of how Lisa fell in love but then grew to fear her overbearing fiancé. Amy reveals information that wasn’t publicly known leading up to and throughout the trial, including the fears for the star witness, Josh Rathmell, and how close the trial came to not even happening.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Amy Dale was born in Sydney, and is the Chief Court Reporter for The Daily Telegraph. She reported the Simon Gittany case from his arrest in August 2011. After reporting on every day of the trial and its dramatic verdict, she travelled to Canada to speak with Lisa Harnum’s family and friends. She joined the paper as a journalist in 2006 and in that time has reported on sport, police and business. She became the Chief Court Reporter in 2011 and covers the state’s most high profile trials and anti-corruption inquires.
The Fall is available now.
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