A star witness in a murder case has repeatedly denied that he manipulated relatives of a murdered mother into withholding information about his “brothel empire” from the court.
Mark Gray returned to the witness stand on Monday for his third day testifying in the Supreme Court trial of 36-year-old Ricardo Barbaro.
Mr Barbaro is on trial after pleading not guilty to the murder of his then-girlfriend Ellie Price, 26, who was found in her blood-soaked apartment in South Melbourne on 5 May 2020.
Mr Gray described his relationship with Ms Price and told the court they had become good friends after meeting at Melbourne’s Mens Gallery where she worked as an exotic dancer in 2017.
He denied Barbaro’s lawyer, Rishi Nathwani’s suggestion that he was her “sugar daddy,” but said he had spent a “small fortune” to help her financially.
Tasmanian mother Ellie Price (pictured), 26, was found dead in her South Melbourne apartment in 2020
Instead, he said he had paid her rent, luxury car and weekly allowance as a ‘loan’, claiming Ms Price had returned about 50 per cent of the money.
Mr Gray was repeatedly asked if he had instructed Mrs Price’s sister, Danielle Price, and her mother, Tracey Gangell, to hide his occupation as a brothel owner during a previous court appearance.
“Do you accept that you told Danielle to try to pervert the course of justice by not making a truthful statement and withholding information about your work,” Mr Nathwani asked.
“Do you accept that you manipulated Danielle Price and Tracey Gangell?”
Mr Gray told the jury he “absolutely” did not accept that, saying he asked what was in their police statements because he feared being “embarrassed” by media reports linking him to brothels in Melbourne and Sydney.
“I am a private person… It is unnecessary and irrelevant and it is a great embarrassment to my family and friends,” he said.
“I just wanted to ask if anything was said about it so I could prepare my mom for what’s going to be in the media.”
Mr Nathwani told the court after Mr Gray sent Danielle text messages questioning what she had told police about his ‘$25 million brothel empire’ that she had lied in court.
Last week, during cross-examination, Danielle admitted that Mr. Gray had told her not to mention his relationship with brothels and to say that he had lent Mrs. Price money and not given it to her.
Her boyfriend at the time, Ricardo Barbaro (pictured escorted by police), is accused of murdering her
Mark Gray returned to the witness stand and denied suggestions that he was Mrs Price’s ‘sugar daddy’ but said he had spent a ‘small fortune’ helping her financially
The jury was told that Danielle had previously stated that she “hardly knew” Mr. Gray and denied knowing he was involved in brothels.
Mr Gray denied that was the case, saying he had only asked her what was in her police statement and had expressly told Danielle to ‘tell the truth’.
Mr Gray further denied that he had hired a hitman to kill Ms Price as she had attempted to extort $100,000 from him by threatening to make a false rape complaint as suggested by Mr Nathwani.
Text messages between Mr Gray and Danielle Price were shown to the jury suggesting that Mr Barbaro’s lawyers try to blame her death on him.
“Great, so I got a hitman because she was extorting $25,000. Real? Her car cost 4-5 times that amount and both of her bonds were more. Why didn’t I call the assassin then? What a joke,” Mr Gray said in December 2020.
“The only problem is when people throw mud, some of it sticks, even if you didn’t do anything wrong.”
Mr Gray (pictured) further denied that he had hired a hit man to kill Ms Price because she had attempted to extort $100,000 from him by threatening him with a false rape complaint, as suggested by Mr’s lawyer Barbara.
Mrs Price’s sister Danielle (pictured) admitted that Mr Gray told her not to mention his relationship with brothels and said he had lent Mrs Price money and not given it to her
Mr Barbaro has pleaded not guilty to the murder of Ms Price (Photo: Mr Barbaro to be arrested in 2020)
In his opening statement to the jury last week, Mr Nathwani said questions would arise as to whether others had a motive for Ms Price’s death.
“To be clear, this is a whodunit, meaning that Mr. Barbaro denies killing Ellie Price,” he said.
“There’s no question that Ellie Price worked in the adult entertainment industry… Did she upset anyone enough to want to harm her?”
Prosecutors, led by Damien Hannan, allege Mr Barbara killed Ms Price in a “violent altercation” during an early morning argument on April 29, before leaving her home in Ms Price’s Mercedes-Benz “to never more to come back’.
Six days later, she was reported missing by Ms. Gangell, who lived in Tasmania, after several days of unsuccessful attempts to contact her.
During a welfare check on May 4, police found her body with six stab wounds and an 8-cm cut to her throat.
Mr Hannan said the prosecution would allege that Mr Barbaro visited his father, Joe Barbaro, in western Melbourne before hiring a van.
It is alleged that he drove to NSW where he was arrested on May 13, ‘shortly’ after Joe told his son that detectives had visited to look for him.
The trial, before Judge Lex Lasry, continues.