The former boyfriend of murdered Brazilian national Cecilia Haddad has claimed he returned to Brazil because his father was going to have heart surgery, not because he was fleeing Australia.
Mario Marcelo Santoro is accused of murdering businesswoman Ms Haddad and dumping her body in Sydney's Lane Cove River in April this year.
A handcuffed Mr Santoro has now spoken for the first time, telling a Rio de Janeiro court his flight was not connected with Ms Haddad's death.
The 40-year-old accused had been living with 38-year-old Ms Haddad in north Sydney's Ryde when she was murdered, then flew out to Rio the weekend her body was discovered by paddlers in northern Sydney river.
Ms Haddad's body was found eight kilometres from her home in Ryde on April 29.
Mr Santoro was arrested in Botafogo, south of Rio de Janeiro, on July 7. He was charged with femicide for allegedly choking Ms Haddad to death.
Defence waiting on NSW Police evidence
Mr Santoro's lawyer Mauricio Mayr said he had not received any investigative report from Australian police about the case.
"So far the accusation is a complaint offered by the Public Ministry based on documentation provided by the family. There is nothing else in the file," Mr Mayr said.
"We learned from the press that the police officers [from Australia] had been here and went to the homicide police station and that they also went to the public prosecutors [with] a copy of the investigation.
"Obviously, the defence will always be the last one to know [the content of the investigation report delivered by Australian police officers] but up until now, nothing was added to the records to enrich the allegations in this process."
Mr Santoro and Ms Haddad were colleagues in Rio de Janeiro and had moved to Australia in 2007.
During a previous hearing, Ms Haddad's parents told the court that their daughter was afraid of Mr Santoro and that she had been threatened by him.
Though they were separated, they still lived together. However two weeks before her death, investigators said Ms Haddad asked Mr Santoro to move out.
Ms Haddad was born in Brazil and moved to Australia more than a decade ago, working within logistics and mining industries.
