A man allegedly murdered a 28-year-old woman in her Sydney apartment out of anger at their relationship breakdown, before calling his mother to the scene, leaving the body and driving the victim’s car to nearby bushland to set it on fire, a court has heard.
Paul Jason Sultana, 34, has pleaded not guilty to murdering Dayna Isaac, whose body was found in her Penrith apartment two-and-a-half years ago.
Dayna Isaac, 28, was allegedly murdered by Paul Sultana in 2023.
As Sultana’s judge-alone trial began in the NSW Supreme Court on Monday, Crown Prosecutor Yvette Prowse told Justice Peter Garling he will hear evidence Sultana killed Isaac on January 18, 2023.
In her opening address, Prowse said Sultana needed help to move the body so he called his brother and a childhood friend, neither of whom answered. She said he then drove to his friend’s house, but his friend wasn’t home.
“The Crown says he then called his mother, who lived very close to the deceased, and picked up his mother in the deceased’s car, not telling her what was wrong, but repeatedly saying, ‘It’s bad, it’s bad’,” she said.
“He then took his mother to the deceased’s apartment, but as soon as his mother saw the dead body of Ms Isaac, she turned around and left.”
With Sultana “alone in the apartment with no-one to help him move the body”, Prowse said he left Isaac’s body and drove her car to bushland in nearby Castlereagh, setting it alight.
Paul Sultana was arrested at his home following Isaac’s death.
She alleged he rode his bike home and burned more items in a backyard barrel, with the belongings burnt implicating him in the crime.
She said he then “changed his appearance by shaving off his hair and his beard”.
Sultana later allegedly messaged Isaac: “You say you love everything about me yet go getting smashed by some other bloke”. When Isaac’s father called Sultana looking for his daughter, Sultana told him he’d earlier argued with her but didn’t know where she was, Prowse said.
Later that night, the Crown submitted, Sultana messaged his brother: “I’m getting arrested brother, I’m running at them. I love you all. I’m sorry for all I’ve ever done right /wrong, was always wrong.”
That same night, police found Sultana passed out on his lounge.
The next day, Sultana denied killing Isaac to police, the court heard, telling them his phone was off that day because he wanted “peace and quiet”, and that he’d gone on a drunken bike ride into the bush.
Prowse said the trial will hear testimonies from three women – including two former intimate partners – suggesting a pattern of physical and verbal violence when Sultana believed relationships were breaking down.
“The Crown says that [this] demonstrates that evidence is capable of demonstrating a tendency by the accused to respond with violence, effectively when he feels the relationship is ending or when he’s feeling rejected,” she said, adding it was “not a coincidence” three women have had similar experiences of violence.
Isaac’s burnt-out car was found in bushland near her Penrith apartment.
The court will hear Isaac died of strangulation, had blunt force injuries to her face and body, and was found with two cords around her neck.
The prosecutor said DNA evidence consistent with Sultana was found on Isaac’s clothes, and that a neighbour “heard screaming and banging” at the time of her death, before “it all went quiet”.
That neighbour allegedly saw a man leave the apartment and return with an older woman.
Prowse said Sultana allegedly confessed to someone in custody that he had gone to the scene during a breakdown of the relationship, that Isaac was still in contact with her husband, and that he had planned to tie her up “and make her regret f---ing him over, but ultimately killed her”.
Sultana’s barrister, Gregory Woods KC, said his client did not kill Isaac and that someone else who “must have been on the premises” must have done so. He argued the Crown’s case is largely circumstantial and there were no eyewitnesses to the killing.
He anticipated evidence Sultana left the apartment and picked up his mother, who went to police after seeing the “very distressing” scene, but said “the gist of the report” did not involve her saying her son committed the murder.
Woods acknowledged Sultana drove Isaac’s car to bushland and set it on fire, then burned items in his backyard, but said these actions were due to “panic caused by fear”, not guilt.
He argued the panic was driven by the “unhappy history of several failed romances”.
Woods noted the Crown would present evidence Sultana had previously spent time in jail.
“Now this is all consistent … with a man who believed that he might be blamed in these circumstances because he had previously been accused of bad behaviour by ex-girlfriends,” Woods said.
“That is, he panicked, not because he had killed Dayna, but because he believed he would very likely be the target of misdirected police charges. We say that’s an interpretation which will flow from the evidence”.
The trial is expected to last 30 days.
If you or anyone you know needs support, call Lifeline on 131 114, beyondblue on 1800 512 348, Kids Helpline on 1800 55 1800, or the National Sexual Assault, Domestic and Family Violence Counselling Service on 1800RESPECT (1800 737 732).
Start the day with a summary of the day’s most important and interesting stories, analysis and insights. Sign up for our Morning Edition newsletter.