Simon Gittany's defence team links anorexia to suicide at his murder trial over Lisa Harnum's death

LISA Harnum's moods before her death may have been shaped by a struggle with an eating disorder, Simon Gittany's murder trial heard yesterday.
Mr Gittany, 40, denies murdering his fiancee by throwing her from the balcony of their 15th-storey apartment.

Simon Gittany with his girlfriend, Rachelle Louise, outside the Supreme Court at Darlinghurst. Source: News Limited

The psychiatrist called by Mr Gittany's defence, Professor Phillipa Hay, told the trial eating disorder sufferers had "an increased risk of death from suicide''.
Professor Hay said suicide could stem from the eating disorder itself or "from another psychological disorder such as major depression".
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The court heard Ms Harnum told her personal trainer, Lisa Brown, and counsellor Michelle Richmond in the weeks before her July 30, 2011, death that she was struggling with bulimia.
The trial has also been tendered material showing that Canadian-born Ms Harnum was treated in hospital in Toronto for health problems as a result of eating disorders.

Lisa Harnum died after allegedly being thrown from her Sydney apartment balcony. Picture: Rex/Austral Source: Supplied

Crown prosecutor Mark Tedeschi, QC, asked Professor Hay if an expert was unable to tell if "a mood disturbance'' was directly connected to an eating disorder as opposed to "an anger, an annoyance ... or a frustration''. "Yes, that's right,'' Professor Hay said.
Mr Gittany's sister, Barbara, wept as she recalled how he told of efforts to reach out and save his fiancee but "it was like (he) was grabbing air''.
The trial continues before Justice Lucy McCallum.

Lisa Harnum died after allegedly being thrown from her Sydney apartment balcony. Picture: Rex/Austral Source: Supplied

Lisa Harnum died after allegedly being thrown from her Sydney apartment balcony. Picture: Rex/Austral Source: Supplied