An Australian man has been found guilty of murdering BC’s Tatiana Dokhotaru in front of her young son
Warning: This story contains descriptions of domestic violence. Understanding is advised.
A Sydney, Australia, man has been found guilty of murdering a BC woman in her apartment in 2023.
Danny Zayat was charged with murdering his wary girlfriend, Tatiana Dokharu. Dokhotaru moved to Australia in 2012, and the couple had a son together.
Dokhotaru’s body was found in a flat in Liverpool Subrup on May 27, 2023, one day after she was killed, according to South Wales Police.
According to the pathologist who testified in the case, Dokhotaru’s cause of death was blunt force trauma to the head, which the crown said was the result of one or more blows, combined with a fall.
Dokhotaru’s friend, Amber Haleta, went to Sydney for the trial and when the verdict came down, she just started crying.
“I couldn’t help it, I was crying, I jumped to the ground,” he told world news.
“I knew this was going to be a decision, but it’s a jury, and you’re just trying to convince 12 people of the same thing. It’s a lot harder than just one judge.”
The court heard Dondlature died shortly after her call to Australia’s emergency hotline was disconnected, when she told the operator her boyfriend wanted to kill her.
It took the 12-person jury nearly three and a half days to return with a majority verdict of 11 to one.
“We lost someone special to us,” said Haleta.
“He was the light of all our lives. And domestic violence really hits me. So it was a big deal.”
After moving to Australia, Haleta says Dokhotaru soon began to complain about domestic abuse and posted videos of her injuries.
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Mother and son returned to Vancouver to visit his parents in 2022. It is said that he received an order to stop resisting Zayat and left home, according to Haleta.
But on May 27, 2023, he was found dead in a Sydney, Australia apartment. Haleta told international news that Dokhataru’s four-year-old son and the burnt man were at home when the police arrived.
Their son, now six years old, testified in court.
“I feel like his mother, you know, is sowing all the seeds that she needs and I just can’t imagine what it would be like for a young child to have to endure this and be left alone and experience horrible things,” Haleta said.
“He said over and over again, ‘Dad slept a lot, dad was very angry. Dad put mom to bed, Dad put mom to bed.’ He also reported that he “couldn’t wake up my mother.”
Haleta said it was very hurtful to hear those words from such a young child.
“Seeing their last video from the CCTV Fook in the kitchen the night that happened, 20 minutes before the suspect saw,, you know, he was very happy,” he added.
“He was running, chasing him. It’s just, it’s disgusting. There really are no words for it.”
The little boy was the only Witness in the case.
Haleta also testified again, talking about when Dondla came back to Canada to visit and what they did together.
“We went on a little vacation together, and that’s when the suspect called, threatened his life, called scary words,” said Haleta.
“He had a lot of skin back then, kind of not eating, just insisting.”
Haleta said that every tragedy has been difficult for everyone who knew Dokhotaru, but it has been very difficult for Dokhotaru’s son.
“I couldn’t imagine my son not being with his parents,” she said. “So that destroyed me, but he (dokhotaru) was only a child knowing that his mother lost the whole world and there was nothing we could do.
“Even a decision doesn’t help how we feel. We all never sleep. It’s time for this to go on, and finally be able to breathe a little, and finally be able to breathe that mother, loving, loving, loving, loving, you are not here.”
Haleta said she hopes that as her friend’s son grows up, he knows that his mother loves him more than life itself.
“That was the happiest day when she became a mother. She did it freely, and she would tell him anything in the world. ‘She is a little superhero at six.’
Zayat will be sentenced in December. A conviction for murder carries a life sentence in Australia, with parole eligibility to be determined by a judge.
– With files from Rumina Daya, World News
& Copy 2025 Global News, Division of Corse Entertainment Inc.
