Tatiana Dokhotaru found dead in Liverpool unit, partner Danny Zayat arrested on separate DV charges

While family and friends of Tatiana “Tania” Dokhotaru are still coming to terms with her death, police have now slapped more charges on the man found in her home by officers.

A man charged with domestic violence offences following the shocking discovery of a dead woman in a southwestern Sydney unit has been slapped with more than a dozen new charges.

Danny Zayat, 28, appeared before Liverpool Local Court on Tuesday after police uncovered the body of his ex-partner Tatiana “Tania” Dokhotaru on Saturday.

The court was told on Monday that Zayat was now facing more than a dozen new charges, including domestic-violence-related choking without consent, assault occasioning bodily harm, and common assault.

Zayat was refused bail to reappear before the same court on Friday.

Police are looking at how Ms Dokhotaru died, and no charges relating to her death have been made.

Tatiana "Tania" Dokhotaru was found dead in her Liverpool apartment block on Saturday night by police. Picture: Instagram

Danny Zayat has been charged with domestic violence offences after police found him at the Liverpool apartment of his partner Tatiana Dokhotaru. He has not been charged over her death. Picture: Instagram

Lawyer Talal Krayem said Zayat would be making a bid for release on bail at that date.

Mr Krayem told members of the media outside court that it was a “tragic set of circumstances”.

Mr Zayat’s court appearance follows a string of heartbreaking tributes from family and friends of Ms Dokhotaru.

Ms Dokhotaru was found dead inside the apartment, with police launching a critical incident investigation into why her body was only discovered nearly 24 hours after a woman called triple-0 claiming she was being assaulted in the building.

Tatiana “Tania” Dokhotaru’s body was found by police on Saturday night. Picture: David Swift

The body of Ms Dokhotaru, 34, was found by police with head injuries in the unit of a towering apartment block on Norfolk St, Liverpool about 8pm on Saturday.

Police are now looking into whether a woman who had dialled triple-0 to report she was being assaulted in the building about 11.45pm on Friday was in fact Ms Dokhotaru.

When police visited the block just over three hours later, they were unable to locate the apartment of concern in the 297-unit building.

A separate call to triple-0 later on Saturday led them to Ms Dokhotaru’s apartment, where they found Zayat, before making the grim discovery of her body.

Zayat was arrested and taken to Liverpool Police Station for questioning, before being charged with stalk/intimidate intend fear physical etc harm (DV), contravene prohibition/restriction in AVO (DV) and destroy or damage property (DV).

“Rest in peace. I feel sick to my stomach I was dead-set just talking about you the other day.

Danny Zayat will appear in Liverpool Local Court on Monday charged with domestic violence offences. He has not been charged over his partner’s death. Picture: Instagram,

Tatiana "Tania" Dokhotaru was found dead in her Liverpool apartment block on Saturday night by police. Picture: Instagram.

My heart is broken. Best mum you were and the kindest soul,” Instagram follower Chloe Bohuslav said following the news of Ms Dokhotaru’s death.

“My heart is broken for you, my heart is broken for your son, my heart hurts. Rest in peace Tatiana Dokhotaru.”

Friend Amy Lee said “life is so precious and you didn’t deserve this beautiful. I hope you have peace, fly high beautiful.”

Another user by the name @inkbeautyamber said she will deeply miss Ms Dokhotaru and “can’t believe” what had happened.

“You had such a big heart and deserved the world,” she said.

“You were the baddest with the biggest heart,” and “rest in peace T, my heart breaks for your little boy,” others said.

When police were first called to the unit block on Friday night following an anonymous report of a domestic disturbance, they were unable to locate the unit of concern. Picture: David Swift

NSW Police Assistant Commissioner Stuart Smith said while none of the three charges related to Ms Dokhotaru’s death, Zayat was helping detectives with their inquiries and additional charges would not be ruled out.

He said the first call to police was from a woman claiming she was being assaulted.

“(The) triple-0 call centre on Friday night received a phone call from an anonymous female person reflecting she was (allegedly) being assaulted and money was being requested by another person in the unit,” he said.

“She provided no name and the address for that phone call was a large block of units here in Liverpool.”

Assistant Commissioner Smith said on top of the ongoing investigation into how Ms Dokhotaru died, a critical incident investigation had been formed to assess the response of police after they received the initial call.

“This morning I was briefed at about 5am and about 8.40am I declared a critical incident investigation, additional to the homicide investigation,” he said.

Police remained at the scene in Liverpool following the discovery of the body. Picture: David Swift

“The reason for the investigation is the priority given to the initial Triple-0 call.

“The investigation will establish the timeline for me.”

The anonymous call made to police at 11.45pm was regarded as a “priority three, leading police to arrive at the apartment complex at 3am the following day.

When asked if police were looking at anyone else’s involvement in the case, Assistant Commissioner Smith said: “At this stage we are confined to the people located in the unit”.

“We will continue with the investigation. There’s a large team upstairs working through what happened and I won’t rule out further charges.”

Assistant Commissioner Smith alleged Zayat should not have been at the property.

Premier Chris Minns said the response time of emergency services to a triple-0 call made by a Liverpool mother 24 hours before she was found dead, was “very concerning”.

Mr Minns said the outcome of a police inquiry into the incident would be made public as soon as it is completed.

“I can understand the public is worried about obviously a traumatic incident but we need to make sure that the police have got a chance to do their enquires so that we can announce what changes if any need to be made,” he said.

“It’s obviously a deeply traumatic and worrying incident and I think many people in NSW would be concerned about the reported facts.”

Court documents reveal police allege there was a domestic incident between Zayat and Ms Dokhotaru between the hours of 10am and 11.59pm on Friday.

Police allege that during this time Zayat smashed Ms Dokhotaru’s television, with the intention of causing her physical or mental harm.

Zayat appeared briefly in Parramatta Bail Court on Sunday where he made no application for bail and it was officially refused, before he was ordered to reappear in Liverpool Local Court on Monday.

Sources told The Daily Telegraph that Ms Dokhotaru and Zayat were due to attend a gender reveal party over the weekend, with friends of the pair left confused when neither attended - before finding out the shattering news.

Ms Dokhotaru ran an Instagram page leasing out luxury items such as handbags, watches and dresses, before her death.