Gittany ex grilled over 'model' ambitions

Killer Simon Gittany's ex-girlfriend has cried in court and said she has changed her appearance since allegedly defamatory articles.

Rachelle Louise was adamant she never worked as a model or had dreams of becoming an actress when she began giving evidence in her defamation case against Nationwide News.

But as the publisher's barrister Dr Matthew Collins QC stood up to begin his cross-examination of convicted killer Simon Gittany's ex-girlfriend on Wednesday, the first thing he pointed to was a photograph.

The image - taken by Gary Holmes' modelling agency - pictures Ms Louise in a low-cut blue top.

It was posted on the photo-sharing site Instagram with such hashtags as "model", "edgemodels", "fashion", "fashion shoot".

"These photos were taken by my friend," Ms Louise replied, adding it wasn't modelling but "promotional work".

Next he showed her a photograph of herself wearing a singlet with the words `Just Car Insurance'.

"I was promoting Just Car Insurance," Ms Louise said.

Dr Collins then asked her about her online profile on the auditioning site Star Now and an extras role she did on the show Rescue Special Ops.

A music video by Faydee, Better off Alone, which features Ms Louise playing the artist's girlfriend in the clip, was also shown to the court.

She conceded she had told LA Talk Radio in June 2012 that a man - whose name she did not know - had bought her a $500,000 diamond necklace while she was in Las Vegas.

But Ms Louise said a lot of the interview was "fabricated", as the interviewer told her to have "a good story for the show".

The 25-year-old law student has taken the news organisation to court claiming the Daily Telegraph defamed her in a series of articles written after Gittany was found guilty in November 2013 of murdering his fiancee Lisa Harnum by throwing her from their 15th-floor apartment.

She claims the articles imply she is ridiculous and deranged for believing Gittany, and that she is an airhead, a stripper and someone who speaks ill of the dead.

Ms Louise broke down on Wednesday saying since the articles were published she has been "accosted" by strangers who asked her if she was working as a prostitute again now Gittany was in prison.

On Wednesday Dr Collins took Ms Louise through the judgment on the Gittany trial, asking her about Justice Lucy McCallum's findings that Gittany was controlling and domineering in his relationship with Ms Harnum.

Dr Collins asked her if she accepted that Gittany's actions in putting software on Ms Harnum's phone so he could monitor her text messages was an "inexcusable breach of trust".

"When Lisa Harnum was in Canada she hacked into Simon's Hotmail account. Would you consider that an inexcusable breach of trust?" Ms Louise responded.

"You have just slurred Lisa Harnum. That is hardly showing respect for the dead, would you agree?" Dr Collins asked.

"I'm just stating a fact," she replied.

The trial continues.


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Source: AAP


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