A court has heard explosive allegations that a man who fell several storeys to his death from a hotel balcony in Far North Queensland may have been "directly or indirectly forced off" by his friend.
Seth James Luhrs, 24, died after plummeting about 15 metres onto a hotel awning at the Rydges Esplanade Hotel, Cairns, in April 2018 while on a weekend away with friends.
The Mareeba man had been sharing a room with friend Sean Clift, 21, who police claim was the only person in the room at the time of his fall.
No-one has been charged over the incident.
On day one of a coronial inquest examining Mr Luhr's death, the court heard Mr Clift sent a Facebook message to a friend saying "Seth's dead".
Investigating police officer Detective Senior Constable Zoe Goodall told the court she believed Mr Clift may have "directly or indirectly forced him (Mr Luhrs) over the balcony".
The claim was met with fury by Mr Clift's solicitor Philip Bovey, who said any claim that his client was involved in Mr Luhr's death was "absolutely outrageous".
Det Sen-Constable Goodall told the court a hotel maintenance worker heard a loud bang about 1.30am and discovered Mr Luhr's body.
She said police quickly responded and went to Room 709, where the friends had been staying, to find Mr Clift sitting in the darkness.
She said Mr Clift told officers he had been asleep and didn't know where his friend was.
"There are two people in the room [sic] and one of them is dead and one knows what happened and lied about it," Det Sen-Constable Goodall told the court.
Court shown vision of pair checking in
The court was told the pair had taken LSD that night and Mr Clift, who was captured on security vision outside the hotel alone, had somehow broken his arm.
The vision played to the court showed him in his underwear, his arm badly broken, walking around the hotel foyer and outside the hotel.
"My theory is that Sean broke his arm and the LSD was wearing off, he was in pain and he wanted to go to the hospital. He wanted Seth to take him to the hospital," Det Sen-Constable Goodall said.
"I think Seth was skylarking on the balcony and [Mr Clift] has been frustrated and has either directly or indirectly forced him over the balcony.
"There might have been some altercation on the balcony, it might just have been a misadventure.
"Sean has some involvement. For him to be texting and acknowledging [the fall] and then say, 'I was asleep'.
"He lied about the situation."
The court heard Mr Clift was arrested at the scene, but later let go.
Mr Bovey told the court there was "not one whiff of evidence that a push could have occurred".
He said there had been an extensive police investigation, including scientific and forensic officers sent from Brisbane to investigate "and as a result of all that, there were no charges against Clift".
Det Sen-Constable Goodall agreed police were not able to provide evidence beyond a reasonable doubt that Mr Clift was involved.
Mr Clift is due to give evidence on day three of the inquest.
