An argument placing Elizabeth Britton and her former partner together on the day before she was fatally injured, may in fact have occurred weeks earlier, a witness has said.
An inquest is underway into the death of Ms Britton, who was found in her Pottsville home in northern NSW on October 10, 2022, with severe head injuries, to determine if they were accidental or the result of an assault.
On Tuesday, evidence was given by a neighbour of the 44-year-old's former partner Anthony Siganto who is considered a person of interest.
Police had initially recorded neighbour Lenor Barlow as saying she saw the couple arguing on Mr Siganto's balcony on October 9, the day before Ms Britton was injured.
Mr Siganto claims the last time he saw Ms Britton was roughly a week-and-a-half before that, the inquest was told previously.
Ms Barlow told the inquest while she did frequently hear the couple fighting, she had not seen them together on that day.
"I'm sure it wasn't on that night, I'm quite sure it was before that," she said.
Ms Barlow said she had seen Mr Siganto being abusive and threatening not just towards Ms Britton, but many others who also lived in the complex.
"It was just awful for poor Liz, the things he was saying, the language was just awful," she said.
“He's never done it to me but I have witnessed and heard how he has spoken to other tenants and it quite frankly absolutely terrified me."
The inquest also was told on Tuesday that despite being left unable to speak and in a confused state due to her injuries, Ms Britton might have been able to correctly identify her attacker.
The brain surgeon who treated Ms Britton, Professor Michael Besser, said he believed she would have been able to understand questions posed to her and had sufficient cognitive capacity to respond correctly.
Ms Britton's mother and son both claim she nodded in agreement when asked if Mr Siganto had assaulted her.
Prof Besser said it was his opinion Ms Britton could still comprehend words but was unable to speak due to having expressive dysphasia - a dysfunction in the area of the brain responsible for motor strength.
Counsel assisting Philip Hogan pointed out that at times Ms Britton's responses to questions were inconsistent, including shaking her head when asked by a paramedic if she could identify her attacker.
"I acknowledge that she was likely to have been confused," Prof Besser said.
"But she got seemingly other things correct, so I think there was some degree of cognitive ability.
"How these two things interact is difficult.”
The inquest will continue on Wednesday.
