McRae was found dead inside her Coogee apartment in January 2020. Two months later Valencia was arrested on the Carribean island of Aruba. Valencia had been living in Australia while studying at Surry Hills Business College.

He was returned to Australia where he pleaded guilty to unlawfully killing the McCrae. The Crown has rejected his plea to the lesser charge, and he is appearing in the NSW Supreme Court where he is being tried for her murder.

Valencia told the court he made met McRae through WhatsApp and went to her flat after 3pm on January 8th, 2020. McRae had advertised her services as a sex worker describing herself as a 38-year-old. Valencia told the court he paid McRae $100 when he arrived at her apartment and went into the bedroom and took off his clothes.

The court was told that McRae performed oral sex on Valencia for around 5 to 10 minutes, but while they were talking, he began to question if the details he had be told were true.

I started becoming suspicious that the person could be transgender,” he said. “Because of the breasts and the physical appearance.”

Valencia told the court that he asked her if she was transgender three times, and she denied she was. He said the fourth time he asked with a loud voice and McRae admitted she was transgender.

He told the court he became upset because of his religious beliefs which viewed having sex with a man as “not normal”. He told the court that he punched the woman in the stomach and in the face while he was still naked.

He said McRae then grabbed a nearby lamp and the pair began to struggle over the electrical cable. Valencia said he was scared that McRae would choke him the cord. He said the cable broke and they both fell to the ground where he pushed the cable against McRae’s neck. A medical expert previously testified that her death was caused by compression on her neck.

He told the court he did not know if McRae was dead or unconscious when he covered her body with the sheets from the bed, but said he put the sheets over her body to protect him in case she regained consciousness.  In court he argued that his actions were an act of self-defence.

He then threw her mobile phones in the apartment’s toilet, telling the court he had done this to stop McRae from contacting him in the future.

The court previously heard that two days after McRae’s death Valencia had sent messages to a friend on Facebook explaining why he was suddenly leaving Australia.

“I threw my life away, dude. I am escaping because I do not want to end up in jail in Australia,” he wrote in a post translated into English from Spanish. “I die of shame to tell this to anybody. I believe I killed a whore.

“I better go to Colombia before they catch me. I cannot see her in the news. I do not know if she is dead but she must be after what happened.”

The student then sold his scooter, borrowed $1,000 from friends, and used his landlord’s stolen credit card to buy a plane ticket to Colombia. He left Australia the following day.

On Monday Valencia told the court he had told two friends about the altercation because he was feeling suicidal. He did not tell his friends that McRae was transgender.

“I didn’t want them to know … that I was with … a man,” Valencia told the court. “I didn’t want to be embarrassed.”

Valencia said he would never have engaged McRae’s services if he was aware that she was transgender.

While in custody he wrote a letter to then-Attorney-General Christian Porter describing the events leading to McRae’s death.

“I am a young migrant who did not know how to handle a situation that changed abruptly from a night of passion to a night of madness and confrontation,” he wrote.

In his letter he said he had used his strength as a defence mechanism and was afraid of being involved in a scandal.

Crown prosecutor Craig Everson SC told the court it was undisputed that Valencia’s actions had ended McRae’s life. Valencia’s lawyer Claire Wasley will deliver her closing statement to the court on Tuesday. The judge-alone trial is before Justice Dina Yehia.

OIP Staff

Do you need some support?

If you are struggling with anxiety or depression, support and counselling are available from:

QLife: 1800 184 527 / qlife.org.au (Webchat 3pm – midnight)
QLife are a counselling and referral service for LGBTQIA+ people.

DISCHARGED: info@discharged.org.au / discharged.org.au
Discharged is a trans-led support service with peer support groups for trans and gender diverse folks.

Lifeline: 13 11 14 / lifeline.org.au

Beyondblue: 1300 22 4636 / www.beyondblue.org.au

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