Pack of aboriginals yelled ‘kill him’ as they allegedly stabbed man to death over littering comment

A woman has been granted bail after facing court over the alleged stabbing murder of Newcastle man James Callahan, who police allege was killed after telling a group of aboriginals not to litter.

Teelah Cooper, 29, appeared in front of the NSW Supreme Court last week where details of a police fact sheet about the November 17 incident were heard and her Legal Aid lawyer successfully argued for bail, The Sydney Morning Herald reported.

Cooper, the girlfriend of alleged knifeman Ryan James Sampson, 33, who has been charged with murder along with five others, is facing charges of being an accessory after the fact to murder and concealing an indictable offence for allegedly helping Sampson avoid arrest.

She was granted bail in Newcastle Local Court in January, but allegedly breached a condition not to contact any of the co-accused by exchanging hundreds of calls with Sampson, and was remanded in custody after turning herself in and having her bail revoked.

Police prosecutors argued she was a flight risk, but Justice Stephen Rothman granted her bail with strict conditions, noting strong ties to the indigenous community and her family, a lack of criminal history, and diagnoses of PTSD, anxiety, depression and adjustment disorder.

According to the police documents, Mr Callahan and a friend were eating outside a kebab shop in Hamilton at 2am when he commented on a woman throwing some of her kebab out of a car window.

The woman got out of the car with several of her friends and a fight erupted, which broke up when a police car drove by, the fact sheet said.

Mr Callahan and his friend then walked away but were followed by two cars and ambushed. Police allege Mr Callahan was hit with a metal pole and stabbed in the abdomen while members of the aboriginal group shouted “smash him” and “kill him” while he was punched and kicked repeatedly.

Police allege Sampson then jumped out of Cooper’s car and stabbed Mr Callahan several times in the back and neck after trying to stab his friend.

“There was a level of planning and coordination to this attack,” the police facts alleged.

“The level of violence in this attack by the co-accused is overwhelming and there can be no doubt the group were intent on committing at least grievous bodily harm upon the victim, in company.”

Prosecutors told the court Cooper and Sampson texted each other and Googled the incident before selling the car, buying another one and driving to Queensland where Sampson was arrested. He was extradited to NSW in March.

Alivia Muriel Briggs, Frank Allen, Jason Talbot, and George James Fernando have also been charged with murder, and mother-of-seven Dianne Fernando has been charged with murder – principal in the second degree.

All seven will face court again on June 11.

Video of the alleged murder posted on social media was described by police as “shocking” and “distressing”

The video can be viewed in this thread:

A third arrest has been made over the alleged murder of James Callahan, 22, in Hamilton, Newcastle, by a group of aboriginals last weekend.

Police allege he was stabbed to death for telling them not to litter.https://t.co/5ZzDLjLVwj

— The Noticer (@NoticerNews) November 25, 2024

Mr Callahan, a keen fisherman and passionate environmentalist, was farewelled by more than 100 people at Stockton breakwall where his parents remembered him as a kind and caring soul who loved nature.

His mother Sally said she couldn’t understand why he had been targeted.

“I just can’t make sense of it,” she said.

Superintendent Kylie Endemi, the Newcastle City Police District commander said after the attack that police would allege Mr Callahan had been murdered for telling his alleged killers not to throw rubbish on the street.

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