Final moments of Sydney trans sex worker Kimberley McRae revealed as Enrique Valencia faces trial

Days after killing a sex worker and leaving her body to rot inside his apartment in Sydney’s eastern suburbs, Colombian student Héctor Enrique Valencia Valencia sent his friend a message.

He said: ‘I better go to Colombia before they catch me, I can’t see it on the news.’

Kimberley McRae’s decomposing body was discovered inside her Coogee apartment on January 14, 2020 when a concerned relative contacted her real estate agent due to growing concerns about her well-being.

Attempts to contact her had been unsuccessful. When her property manager entered her apartment, he was hit with what she described as an unbearable odor.

When the police entered the unit, they found the body of Ms. McRae covered in a blanket, with a pillow over her head and part of a lamp cord around her neck.

A discarded condom was found nearby and its blood was found on the pillow.

Valencia had admitted that he killed Ms McRae during a violent altercation inside her Mount Street unit after paying her for sexual services.

He pleaded guilty to his manslaughter.

Valencia, 23, also pleaded not guilty to her murder, arguing that he had no intent to kill her or cause her grievous bodily harm when he pressed a lamp cord into her neck until she stopped resisting.

He is awaiting his fate, with a judge scheduled to hand down his decision next week after a seven-day Supreme Court trial.

WHAT HAPPENED INSIDE THE MOUNT STREET UNIT

At the time of her murder, Ms. McRae offered her sexual services to him on the classified website Locanto.

Valencia responded to an ad that advertised herself as a 38-year-old ‘blonde MILF with G-cup breasts’.

The trial focused on events that occurred inside Ms. McRae’s home between 3:35 p.m. and 4:15 p.m. on the evening of 8 January 2020.

Valencia admitted that he lost control when he found out that Ms McRae was transgender.

After paying her $100, she took off her clothes and sat on the bed, where Ms. McRae performed oral sex on her for about five to ten minutes.

During her testimony, she told the court: “I started to suspect that the person might be transgender.

‘For the breasts and physical appearance.’

He told Judge Dina Yehia that he felt “lied to” and “upset” before the fatal altercation began.

Ms McRae denied the allegation three times before admitting it when Valencia asked a fourth time ‘out loud’, the court heard.

Valencia admitted that he attacked Ms McRae when he punched her in the stomach and face.

Valencia, who was in Australia on a student visa and studying at a Surry Hills business school, told the court he was upset because his religious beliefs specified that “it was not normal for me to be sexually intimate with another man.”

The court heard that during the altercation, Ms McRae grabbed a lamp and Valencia claimed he was “scared” that she would drown him.

His lawyer, Claire Wasley, argued that Valencia, who was still naked, wanted to leave, but Ms McRae was between him and the entrance.

During the altercation on the floor, they struggled over a piece of the lamp’s electrical cord that he pressed against her neck.

“I tried to put the wire in his neck, the front of his neck,” he said during his statement.

The court heard that he held the cord there until she stopped struggling.

He maintained that he acted in self-defense and admitted that he “probably” watched her die.

MURDER OR HOMICIDE?

To prove the murder defense, the prosecution must prove that Valencia intended to seriously harm or kill Ms. McRae.

Crown prosecutor Craig Everson SC argued that by suffocating his victim until he stopped breathing, he exhibited “intent to cause really serious injury”.

After killing her, Valencia threw sheets over Ms McRae’s body, claiming it was “in case she was conscious” and tried to attack him, the court heard.

He also flushed three of his mobile phones down the toilet.

The court heard that when he returned home, he told the landlord that he had been looking for work.

Forensic pathologist Dr Allan Cala said at the trial that he had concluded that Ms McRae probably died as a result of a combination of asphyxia and a fractured thyroid cartilage.

Three days after Mrs. McRae was presumed dead, Valencia fled Australia.

He sent messages via social media to a friend in Spanish, and Mr Everson told the court that one of the translated messages read: ‘You are one of the few I can trust. And the truth is that tomorrow he traveled to Colombia. I threw my life away, friend. I’m running away because I don’t want to end up in jail in Australia.’

The messages continued: ‘I am embarrassed to say this to anyone. I think I killed a whore… I better go to Colombia before they catch me, I can’t see her on the news, I don’t know if she’s dead, but she must be after what happened.’

After selling his motorcycle for $2,000, he bought a ticket, using his landlord’s credit card, back to Colombia.

Eventually, he was arrested in Aruba and was flown back to Australia under police guard to stand trial.

The court heard that while he was in custody, officers discovered a letter addressed to then-Attorney General Christian Porter.

“I am a young migrant who did not know how to handle a situation that abruptly changed from a night of passion to a night of madness and confrontation,” Valencia wrote in the letter.

He also said he was afraid of being deported or facing “public shaming” for his role in Ms McRae’s death.

“As a foreigner, I was also afraid of a scandal,” he wrote.

However, his defense has argued that large parts of the document were prepared by a relative in Colombia.

Valencia plans to face the Supreme Court again on Friday when Judge Dina Yehia delivers her sentence.