Neighbour tells Wollongong court Valmai ‘Jane’ Birch had black eye before she was found dead in wheelie bin

The neighbour of a woman whose bound body was discovered inside a wheelie bin has told the Wollongong District Court he called the police because of a worsening foul odour coming from her unit.

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David Bagster is on trial charged with causing the death of Valmai “Jane” Birch, whose body was found half submerged in water inside the bin in the bathroom of her Woonona unit.

A post-mortem examination found positional asphyxia due to her being upside down in the bin, neck compressions, drowning, a drug overdose, or any combination of those factors could have led to her death.

Patrick Sagigi lived in the unit above Ms Birch at the time of her death in March 2011.

He was called as a witness in the…