Michael Jackson's doctor was on the phone to his mistress at around the time the singer stopped breathing, jurors in the Conrad Murray trial have heard.
Cocktail waitress Sade Anding revealed that Murray suddenly broke off from their call and that she was unable to get back in touch with him.
Prosecutors claim the 11.51am call on June 25, 2009, was interrupted because the doctor had discovered Jackson's heart had stopped - yet nobody called for an ambulance until 12.21pm.
Miss Anding was one of a procession of Murray's girlfriends - including a stripper and his current live-in partner and mother of his two-year-old son, who testified at Los Angeles Superior Court yesterday.
The waitress, who first met Murray at a restaurant in Houston, Texas, said she was chatting about her day to the doctor when she realised he was no longer listening.
"I heard mumbling sounds and coughing and a voice. I kept saying, hello, hello, are you there? But I didn't get any reply," she added. Earlier that morning, Murray also left a message on the phone of Michelle Bella, an exotic dancer he met in Las Vegas the previous year, the court heard.
And jurors heard from another ex-girlfriend, Bridget Morgan, who testified that she called Murray earlier on the morning of the day Jackson died, but she said that he did not pick up.
The court was told that Murray, 58, was on the phone for 46 minutes during the hour before Jackson died while prosecutors claim he should have been caring for the singer.
Murray has pleaded not guilty to involuntary manslaughter by administering Jackson, 50, with a fatal dose of the hospital anaesthetic propofol.
The prosecution claims the stream of phone calls to his girlfriends diverted the doctor at a crucial time when he should have been at the singer's side.
Murray was also on the phone to his current girlfriend, Nicole Alvarez, at 1.08pm when he was travelling in the ambulance with Jackson to the hospital.
Murray went on to call Miss Alvarez four more times throughout the afternoon. Miss Alvarez, 29, said she has been living with Murray for the past three to four years and had a son with him in March 2009.
The actress said Murray took her along to meet Jackson at his Los Angeles mansion and that the star took a special interest in her baby.
"I first met him in 2008. It was a surprise and I was speechless.
"Michael wanted to schedule visits so he could see my son and I went to see him one of two times during the day and once in the evening," she added.
Miss Alvarez confirmed receiving a series of packages at her apartment in the months before the star's death.
Prosecutors have told the court they were shipments of propofol, but Miss Alvarez denied any knowledge of what was in the parcels.
At the time of Jackson's death, Murray was married to Blanche, his medical school classmate. He has six children with four different mothers.
Neither his marriage nor his tangled love life was directly referred to in yesterday's hearing as a result of the judge's ruling that Murray's private life should be kept out of the evidence where possible.
The case continues.
- Daily Mail