Child Testifies Hearing Woman’s Cries for Help Prior to Discovering Her Deceased, Court Hears

A young child described to the police how they heard cries while in bed, only to awaken the following morning to a tragic scene—a woman lifeless on the couch.

The woman’s former partner, Danny Zayat, aged 30, faces murder charges stemming from the incident, which allegedly occurred just after she had dialed emergency services.

The NSW Supreme Court jury has been presented with evidence depicting a relationship marred by threats, abuse, and violence.

Jurors were shown police interview footage featuring the child who discovered the businesswoman’s body in a Liverpool apartment complex.

During interviews conducted the day after the death of the woman, identified as Dokhotaru, the child—whose identity remains protected—recounted finding the 34-year-old on the couch with blood visible from her nose.

The child tried to rouse Dokhotaru before Zayat arrived and called police and paramedics.

“No waking up,” the youngster said during the interview.

Officers were told about an argument between the couple the previous night when a television and glass flower vase were broken.

The child was again interviewed in September 2025, telling police there had been no blood on Dokhotaru.

They said they heard the woman “screaming … ‘help me, help me’.”

During questioning today, the child said Zayat did not break the television or vase but he had been “fake crying” when police arrived.

“He was crying but he wasn’t sad,” the child told defence barrister Madeleine Avenell SC.

Jurors also heard of injuries and threats to Dokhotaru in the year before she died.

Her mother Olya Dokhotaru and stepfather Denis Thievin, who both live in Canada, recounted their daughter’s visit in 2022 during which she spoke to Zayat almost daily over the phone.

Olya said she heard the concreter threaten to kill his ex-partner if she didn’t return home, while calling her a “f—— fat slut” and a “white f—— bitch”.

“I can’t imagine that a young man can speak like that with his wife,” she said.

Thievin said there was a lot of screaming during these calls and his stepdaughter was typically crying.

“These were not pleasant phone calls,” he said.

When Dokhotaru returned to Australia, she moved into an apartment instead of a house so she could be around neighbours for safety, the court heard.

Weeks before she was found dead, the 34-year-old sent a video to her mother – played to the court – which showed bruises around her throat.

“You can see the fingerprints around her neck,” Olya said.

The day before her body was discovered, Dokhotaru told her mother via text that she was at the doctor with “bad bruising”.

She said she had fallen over her vacuum cleaner and hit the table.

Zayat has pleaded not guilty to murder, denying his involvement in his ex-partner’s death or being responsible for any physical violence towards her in their relationship.

He faces an alternative charge of manslaughter.

The concreter called triple zero the day after her alleged murder, attempted CPR, and was seen crying and wailing when police attended the Liverpool unit.

He said Dokhotaru previously expressed thoughts of suicide and had been depressed when he left her the night before.

An autopsy revealed she died from blunt-force head trauma.

Her death was hastened but not caused by various substances in her system, the jury heard.

The trial continues tomorrow.

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