Tatiana ‘Tania’ Dokhotaru sent the above footage to friends in the days before she was found dead in her unit in Liverpool
A disturbing video has emerged of a black-eyed mother in the days before she was found dead in her high-rise apartment and her boyfriend charged with assault.
Footage obtained exclusively by Daily Mail Australia shows a tearful Tatiana ‘Tania’ Dokhotaru, 34, moving the camera across her face to show friends her swollen and bruised left eye.
The mother sent the clip of her facial injuries to loved ones last week. Just days later, her body was discovered around 8pm on Saturday at her unit in Liverpool, southwest Sydney.
Her body was found nearly 24 hours after she frantically called the police claiming her partner Danny Zayat, 28, was “pounding” her.
Zayat has since been charged with more than a dozen domestic violence-related offenses that allegedly occurred before her death, including choking and violating an AVO.
He was refused bail in court on Monday.
No charges have been filed in relation to Ms. Dokhotaru’s death and he is assisting detectives in their investigations.
Daily Mail Australia understands that police are investigating the black-eye footage as part of their investigation into the circumstances leading up to Ms Dokhotaru’s tragic death.
The clip emerged as cracks appeared in the couple’s circle of friendship as they struggled with Ms. Dokhotaru’s death and Zayat’s arrest.
Ms. Dokhotaru is photographed with her former partner Danny Zayat in early 2021
While Ms. Dokhotaru’s friends beg for answers about her last hours, Zayat’s friends have been working to get his social media accounts shut down to “protect” him from seeing piles of comments left on his posts by trolls.
According to a police information sheet filed in court, Ms Dokhotaru invited Zayat to her flat on Friday night, where she lived with their young son – where the couple reportedly started arguing around 11:40 pm.
She called triple-zero, but the agents who arrived at the 297-unit complex some three hours later left when they couldn’t locate her apartment in the massive tower.
Police have stated that the call for help did not include her full address.
She was then found dead on Saturday by officers responding to a second call for help from a neighbor who heard someone yelling “help me!”
Zayat was arrested on the spot. He later told police he left home around midnight on Friday after an argument over her drug use, but returned the next day when he was unable to contact her.
A friend of Ms Dokhotaru has told the Daily Mail Australia that rumors are circulating on their social network that she has been taking tramadol – a strong opioid painkiller.
Zayat’s lawyer, high-profile barrister Talal Krayem, declined to comment on whether drug use would be part of the defense case when he contacted Daily Mail Australia on Wednesday.
The friend said the family is seeking “justice” for Ms. Dokhotaru’s son, who now “has no mother.”
“This family needs justice for their poor little boy.
Ms Dokhotaru was found dead in Liverpool apartment block on Saturday – almost 24 hours after begging triple-0 for help
One of Zayat’s associates urged his friends to help shut down the concrete entrepreneur’s social media pages
Meanwhile, trader Hakan Wolf, who works for Zayat’s concrete company, started his Instagram account on Wednesday morning to beg the father-of-one’s supporters to help shut down his social media pages.
“To my dear friends, I never ask anything of you. But now I’m going to ask you a huge favor,” he wrote.
“Can you report Danny’s account as a scam so Instagram can take down his page about him. We don’t want him to see all the comments when he gets out.”
Mr Wolf also claimed that ‘Danny is innocent’ and warned that the media would be charged with ‘something serious… mark my words’ once Zayat is no longer in custody.
Tatiana Dokhotaru (right) is pictured with her mother Olga Dokhotaru (left)
The call seemed to work – Zayat’s Facebook and Instagram accounts were no longer visible.
Meanwhile, online tributes continue to pour in for Ms Dokhotaru – a Russian national who migrated to Australia about a decade ago – as she is remembered as a “beautiful and hard-working” mother.
On Tuesday, her heartbroken parents Olga Dokhotaru and Dennis Thievin spoke out to blast the police response to their daughter’s call – which is now the subject of a critical incident investigation.
“If they had responded in a timely manner, Tania might still be alive today,” Mr Theven told Seven News.
“It could have been better than it was.”
Ms Dokhotaru added: ‘[She was] a happy, strong woman’.
“I’m lost, big time… I never, ever expected to hear news (of her death).”
Zayat is due to appear in court on Friday.
According to a police information sheet filed in court, Ms Dokhotaru (pictured) invited Zayat to her flat on Friday night, where she lived with their young son – where the couple reportedly started arguing around 11:40 p.m.