An Illawarra man accused of strangling his wife to death had once caused her to pass out while demonstrating a choking hold he used in his work as a bouncer, a court has heard.
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Steven Fesus is accused of murdering his 18-year-old wife Jodie by strangulation after an argument at their Mount Warrigal home on August 8, 1997.
Ms Fesus' decomposing body was found buried in a shallow grave at Seven Mile Beach a month later.
Steven Fesus was charged with his wife's murder in 2013.
Tracey Smith, Ms Fesus' older sister, gave evidence on Tuesday at her former brother-in-law's pre-trial hearing that she once saw Fesus choke her sister to the point she passed out.
"She went like a fish ... " Ms Smith said, as she demonstrated a wriggle through her body with her arms flailing to the side, "and slumped to the ground".
"She was unconscious for a couple of seconds."
Ms Smith told the court earlier in the day she had often seen her sister and Fesus "play wrestle" during their relationship.
"Jodie would slap Steve, he would slap her back. They would punch each other, then get on the ground and start wrestling," she said. "As a way of Steve stopping her he would get her on the ground and put his arm around Jodie's neck."
Ms Smith said she remembered one occasion where Fesus told her then-partner Darren about a hold he used both on Jodie and in his work, called the death hold.
"He said if you squeeze tighter they [the person] would pass out. He said he would use it at work [as a bouncer] to stop bigger blokes."
Ms Smith said her brother-in-law then used Jodie to show her and Darren the move, wrapping an arm around Ms Fesus's neck and tightening his grip until she passed out briefly.
When asked to replicate the move in court on Tuesday, Ms Smith placed her right arm around the neck of a female court officer (with the woman's permission), with the bend of her elbow directly under the officer's neck. She then placed the palm of her left hand against the officer's back, a few inches below the left shoulder.
The demonstration was videoed for evidence purposes.
Meanwhile, the court also heard from a forensic pathologist who carried out the post-mortem examination on Ms Fesus' body in 1997.
Dr Paull Botterill said while he could not find a definitive cause of death, the circumstances in which Ms Fesus' body was found - in the grave - ruled out accidental death or suicide.
"There's no clear cause of death identified, but the circumstances in which the body was found are not undetermined," he said.
"With the body being in a clandestine grave ... that excludes the possibility of accidental death, suicide and natural causes.
"I'm not aware of any clandestine burials where it's not a homicide.
"[Given the circumstances] there has to have been the involvement of another party."
Dr Botterill said Ms Fesus was found with discolouration of the skin from possible bruising on the left side of her back, on the right side of her head and in a "V" shape around her neck.
The head lesion measured an area of about eight centimetres by seven centimetres, however Dr Botterill said that didn't mean the wound was that size when it was sustained. He also said he couldn't be sure the neck markings were bruises, saying they could have been the result of the body decomposing. The hearing continues on Thursday.
