Minutes after New Zealander Andy Marshall was pushed through a hotel window, falling to his death, his alleged killer sent his girlfriend a smiley face via text.

Marshall was killed in Perth in May last year, just several months after his cousin Scott Guy was murdered in New Zealand.

While Guy's alleged killer was someone he knew well, Marshall had reportedly never met his until just moments before he died.

The 29-year-old, who is from Feilding but was living in Perth, was at the Ocean Beach Hotel, talking to a couple of women when Stefan Pahia Schmidt, 26, approached him.

Schmidt, accused of murdering Marshall, is on trial at the Supreme Court of Western Australia.

Witnesses have told the court that Schmidt arrived at the hotel with a large group, including the two women Marshall was speaking to.

He had approached Marshall and the women, yelling at them to leave, and then pushed Marshall through a window, witnesses said.

Marshall fell five metres onto the path below and died a few hours later in hospital.

Joseph Barnes, who was a patron at the hotel the night of the murder, yesterday said Schmidt, who was described as a very large man, stopped "right in front" of Marshall before he pushed him through the window.

He then heard glass smash and saw Schmidt walk away. As Schmidt left the bar, he punched a man in the face "reasonably hard", Barnes said.

Schmidt's girlfriend, who has name suppression, was not with her partner at the hotel, but the pair had been texting each other throughout the night.

He called her that night and told her "something bad has happened", she told the court via video link yesterday.

He told her: "OBH [Ocean Beach Hotel] is shit. Dead as". He also sent her a smiley face via text.

Witnesses said Schmidt appeared in an "upset state" when he shoved Marshall and crown prosecutor Amanda Forrester said he was in a "fit of rage".

However, Schmidt denies pushing Mr Marshall intentionally.

His lawyer Tom Percy said the incident was a "dreadful accident".

"Whilst he accepts he pushed the deceased ... it certainly wasn't murder or manslaughter," Percy said.

"It was never intended to kill him ... it was simply pushing him out of the way."

- © Fairfax NZ News