A Gold Coast man previously charged over the death of his ex-partner has maintained his innocence despite being urged to “get deep into your heart” and be honest about how she died.

In September 2019, Ivona Jovanovic was shot in the chest at a home in Highland Park and later died at the hospital.

Almost two years later, her former partner Christos Panagakos was charged with manslaughter, but prosecutors later dropped their case against him.

On Wednesday, Mr Panagakos, who is in custody on unrelated matters, was called to give evidence at a coronial inquest being held in Brisbane.

Before beginning his evidence, Coroner Donald MacKenzie addressed Mr Panagakos in the witness box.

“You get a free shot for telling the truth”

Coroner MacKenzie explained the legal power he had to compel witnesses to give potentially self-incriminating evidence at an inquest.

“Anything you say in these proceedings that can incriminate you for any kind of crime … even a crime involving (Ms Jovanovic’s) death,” he said.

“Anything you say today cannot be used against you in any subsequent prosecution.”

Coroner MacKenzie urged Mr Panagakos to “get deep into your heart” and be honest.

“Please be free, open and honest and tell us, and especially the family, what happened,” he said.

“Because you have a free shot to tell the truth and it can’t come back to hurt you.”

Mr Panagakos told the court on the day of the shooting he was under the influence of methamphetamine and did not remember much.

He told the court he remembered being at his house and getting ready to leave to go out to dinner with Ms Jovanovic and two other men.

“Then I remember him saying to call an ambulance.”

The witness claims the guns in the photos were toys

When asked if he had a gun in his possession or in a bag he was carrying up the stairs, Mr Panagakos said no.

The court was then shown two photographs, which had previously been tendered at the inquest.

These images showed different angles of a man’s naked torso, painted black, with two pistols tucked into his pants.

Mr Panagakos confirmed these were photos taken from a video discovered on his phone before Ms Jovanovic’s death.

When asked to provide context, Mr Panagakos told the court it was a “joke” video filmed in his garage and that there were “fake firearms”.

“They’re just toys,” he said.

Mr Panagakos told the court he did not know where those weapons came from and could not remember if they belonged to him, but was certain they were “not real”.

Returning to questions about the shooting, Mr Panagakos told the court he did not initially realize Ms Jovanovic had been injured but at one point saw a gun “somewhere on the floor next to her”.

“It happened so fast,” he said.

Mr Panagakos denied any truth in previous evidence heard during the inquest that he had told the night he tripped and the gun just went off.

He also denied taking the gun out of the house immediately after the shooting, but accepted he had left his home when emergency services arrived.

The court heard Mr Panagakos later told police: “To the best of my knowledge there was an accident” but he had “no idea” how it happened.

Under cross-examination, Mr Panagakos accepted that Ms Jovanovic’s family had no clue about her death, but claimed he did not know who caused the gun to discharge.

The investigation continues.