Ellie Price: Ricardo Barbaro pleads not guilty to murder of young mother

A jury has heard of the bleak moment a young mother was found with “significant” injuries.

A young mother who was allegedly murdered by her on-again, off-again boyfriend was found with an a significant stab wound across her neck, a jury has been told.

The body of Ellie Price, 26, was found by police in the bedroom of her South Melbourne apartment on May 4, 2020 after her mother became concerned for her welfare.

Ricardo Barbaro, Ms Price’s partner, has pleaded not guilty to her murder and is standing trial in the Supreme Court of Victoria.

Ellie Price was found with significant stab wounds on her neck, chest and back, the Supreme Court heard on Thursday. Picture: Facebook

Opening the case for the prosecution on Thursday, Patrick Bourke KC told the jury that police attended Ms Price’s Park St apartment and found the young mother with six stab wounds, three of which he described as “significant”.

Mr Bourke said the “significant stab wounds” were an eight centimetre wound across Mr Price’s neck, a 10 centimetre deep wound to her chest and a seven centimetre wound to her back.

He told the jury that it was the prosecution case that Ms Price was murdered on April 29, the morning of which he said Mr Barbaro was seen leaving her apartment before he fled the state.

Mr Bourke said witnesses would give evidence in the trial that Mr Barbaro’s bloody fingerprint was found on Ms Price’s bathroom mirror, and that more of his blood was found on a wall near her steps.

Ricardo Barbaro, pictured, has pleaded not guilty to the murder of his on-again, off-again partner Ellie Price. Picture: NCA NewsWire / David Crosling

He said that on May 14, Mr Barbaro, who sat before the jury wearing a suit and tie, was arrested in Wentworth Point, NSW, where he had driven to in a van whose number plates he had switched from Victorian to NSW.

Mr Bourke said Mr Barbaro had also been violent towards her, including an incident in which Ms Price was said to have been choked, and told her mother in early April that she planned on returning to her home state of Tasmania until the accused was “out of her life.”

But Mr Barbaro’s lawyer, Rishi Nathwani, said Ms Price had extorted $100,000 from a friend of hers, Mark Gray, under the threat of making an allegation that he had raped her, and said the jury would need to whether anyone else had a motive to harm her.

Referring to her work in strip clubs, Mr Nathwani said the jury would need to bare in mind if “she upset anyone to the degree where they would want to harm her.”

He said it was not in dispute that Ms Price and Mr Gray were in some form of a relationship and that Mr Gray paid her a “significant amount of money,” but said it was in dispute why he was paying her the money.

The case, before Justice Lex Lasry, will continue on Monday.

Originally published as Ellie Price: Ricardo Barbaro pleads not guilty to murder of young mother