Christopher Allen Bell has pleaded not guilty to the murder of his partner and aspiring dental nurse Natalina Angok, who was found dead in Chinatown in Melbourne's CBD in April.
Mr Bell will stand trial in the Supreme Court on one count of murdering Ms Angok, after being committed in the Melbourne Magistrates' Court on Monday.
During the hearing, Detective Senior Constable Sean Campbell told the court CCTV footage showed the couple interacting with patrons in several venues the night before the 32-year-old Geelong woman's body was found in a laneway.
But police were unable to identify and speak to anyone in the footage.
Two employees of the Exford Hotel in Melbourne's CBD gave evidence that Mr Bell tried to steal a bottle of wine from the pub's bottle shop on the night Ms Angok was killed.
"My belief was that he wanted to fight us and he invited us to go down the road," pub worker Keagan Downey said.
Mr Bell's defence lawyer, Rohan Lawrence, called on taxi driver Mohammed Sultan Ali, who picked up the couple on the night.
Mr Sultan Ali told the court he heard Ms Angok verbally abusing Mr Bell and when it came time to pay the cab fare, Ms Angok accused Mr Bell of never paying for anything.
He did not recall Mr Bell responding in any way.
The court previously heard Mr Bell was diagnosed with schizophrenia and was released from a mental health facility one week before Ms Angok's alleged murder.
He had not been taking his prescribed antipsychotic medication for some time at the time of Ms Angok's death, a previous hearing was told.
Ms Angok's family fled war-torn Sudan for a refugee camp in Kenya before coming to Australia in 2000.
Mr Bell will be tried in the Supreme Court of Victoria next year.
