Neighbours of murder victim Paula Conlon heard a ''horrible scream'' on the night she was fatally stabbed, a court has heard.
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Two housemates living in a nearby home reported hearing a scream, the closing of a door and the screech of car tyres about 11pm on March 27, 2012.
The pair first thought the commotion was part of the general rowdiness commonplace in the northside neighbourhood. But a knock on the door by police in the following days sparked recollections of the night on which Ms Conlon was killed.
The mother of three was found dead in her Macgregor home on March 28 with 11 stab wounds. Her boyfriend, Aleksander Vojneski, 31, is appearing before the ACT Supreme Court charged with her murder. He has pleaded not guilty.
The two housemates entered the witness stand on Friday to recount the series of sounds they heard on the night of the murder.
The man said he had been working on his car in the garage at the front of the house when he heard the "horrible scream". He said he then heard a door close and the screech of tyres.
He told the court his ''wide-eyed'' housemate then entered the garage and asked if he had heard the commotion. The man confirmed he had and told her it had sounded like someone had ''an argument or a break up or something''.
He estimated the time to have been after 11pm.
The man described the scream under cross-examination as high-pitched, sustained and feminine. He told defence barrister Jack Pappas that he had not heard an argument.
The witness said the time between the scream, the door thudding and the tyres was a matter of seconds. He admitted the noise of burnouts and parties was commonplace in the neighbourhood at the time, but he told the court the commotion on that night had been out of the ordinary.
Earlier in the day, his housemate said she had been in her room watching a DVD with headphones on when she heard yelling, a car door slam and the sound of car tyres. She said she remembered the time had been about 11pm as she had looked at a clock.
The trial before Justice John Burns continues on Monday.