A chef killed an Airbnb guest by choking and beating him to death in a fight over rent, a court has heard.
Ramis Jonuzi, 36, was found facedown in a chocolate cake at the property in Brighton East, Melbourne, Australia, on October 25, 2017, with injuries that showed he had been choked, News.com.au reported.
Craig Levy, 37, admitted to the manslaughter of Jonuzi. The victim had also suffered a broken nose, bruises and abrasions to his face. Levy's plea followed a downgrading of the murder charge.
Jonuzi owed money for renting a room in the house, where Levy lived with two others.
Levy restrained Jonuzi while another man allegedly attacked him, choking him and throwing him against the wall.
The men tried to access Jonuzi's bank balance using the deceased's mobile phone.
Prosecutor Raymond Gibson told the Supreme Court: "At this point the deceased was crying and apologizing.
"At one time during the assault, Levy dropped his elbow on the deceased's chest," Australia's ABC reported.
At an earlier hearing, Melbourne Magistrates Court was told Levy called police to get Jonuzi removed from his home after a dispute over rent.
A neighbor told magistrates in May that she had heard a man "screaming at the top of his lungs. We had heard prolonged screaming for about 10 minutes. This was a man screaming, so I was really concerned. It sounded like someone was being tortured…. It sounded perilous," she said, according to ABC.
Jonuzi's sister Naime Balla told the court of the family's grief. "You have destroyed our family in every possible way."
Another sister, Afradita Hamika, told Justice Andrew Tinney that not being able to hear her brother's voice was "unbearable. I'll never hear about his weekend, I'll never hear his laugh," she said.
The court heard how Levy was a trained chef who spent up to AUS $250 (U.S. $180) a week on cannabis.
His defense lawyer said: "It was senseless offending and it's something Mr. Levy will forever carry with him. He knows his conscience will never be clear."
Levy will be sentenced at a later date.
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