Slain Melbourne mother's boyfriend faces murder trial

The day before Ellie Price was found dead in her Melbourne apartment she spent the day with her on-off boyfriend Ricardo Barbaro.

They made a video call to Ms Price's mother and both visited the GP for a medical appointment.

But before the sun rose the next morning, Barbaro had stabbed the 26-year-old six times, including a large cut across her throat, prosecutors allege.

He then allegedly got into her Mercedes Benz and fled.

Barbaro has denied he killed Ms Price and faced the first day of a trial in front of 14 jurors on Tuesday.

Ms Price's body was found on May 4, 2020, in a blood-soaked Park Street, South Melbourne, flat.

Police found her dead on the floor of her bedroom during a welfare check, after her mother Tracey Gangell became worried her daughter had not returned her calls.

Following an interstate police manhunt, Barbaro was arrested 10 days later in NSW.

Ms Gangell told the jury she spoke to her daughter on April 28, the day before it's alleged Barbaro killed her, on a Facebook video call. Barbaro was present during the 12-minute call.

"Just a normal conversation. She seemed OK," she said.

That was the last time she spoke to Ms Price. In the following days she sent several text messages and tried calling, but did not hear back.

"If you don't ring me tomorrow, I'm calling the police," one of Ms Gangell's final texts to her daughter said.

She called triple zero on May 4. Police found Ms Price with six stab wounds, including an 8cm long cut across her neck and a 7cm deep cut to her back, prosecutor Patrick Bourke told the jury.

He alleged Barbaro's DNA was found in blood stains across the apartment, including at the bottom of the stairs, and his finger print found on a mirror in her bedroom.

"His intention was to kill her or to cause her really serious injury," Mr Bourke said.

He alleged after Barbaro stabbed Ms Price, in the early hours of April 29, he got into her Mercedes Benz and left the apartment about 4.30am.

The prosecutor said Barbaro was seen on CCTV meeting up with his father, Joe Barbaro, in Williamstown later that morning.

The father and son were later seen in Diggers Rest, where Mr Bourke alleged they abandoned the Mercedes.

He said there was a history of domestic violence between Barbaro and Ms Price, who were dating on and off from 2019 until she died.

Ms Gangell said Ms Price, who was a single mother, would often visit her family in Tasmania.

On one such trip in March 2020, Ms Gangell said her daughter told her she planned to come home to Tasmania to stay and she wouldn't return to Melbourne "until Rick was out of her life".

Barbaro's barrister Rishi Nathwani said his client was not the last person to see Ms Price alive, and questioned other people she may have met as an exotic dancer.

"Were there any other people who she upset...Who wanted to harm her?" he said.

The trial before Justice Lex Lasry continues.

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