A seventh person has been charged over the death of a young man who was allegedly stabbed to death in Newcastle after telling a group of aboriginals not to litter.
Ryan James Sampson, 33, was quietly extradited from Queensland and charged with murder in Tweed Heads Local Court earlier this month, with police alleging in court he stabbed James Callahan, 22, outside a kebab shop in Hamilton in the early hours of November 17 last year, The Newcastle News reported.
Police will allege Sampson and his sister Alivia Muriel Briggs, 33, stabbed Mr Callahan after he made a comment about a woman throwing a piece of kebab on the street, and Sampson has also been charged with assault occasioning actual bodily harm in company after allegedly bashing Mr Callahan’s friend.
Sampson, who was arrested in Yeppoon on November 24, faces an additional charge of being armed with intent to commit an indictable offence, and did not apply for bail. He will face Newcastle Local Court on May 6.
His charges come a month after aboriginal mother-of-seven Dianne Fernando was charged with murder – principal in the second degree – in Newcastle Local Court.
She applied for bail but the magistrate said the prosecution case was strong, Fernando’s presence at the scene had been established, and she played an “active contribution to various parts”, including being present in one of the vehicles involved.
She further noted that Fernando was on a conditional release order for an alleged affray incident at the time of the alleged murder, and had a history of breaching court orders, before opposing her bail and adjourning her matter until April.
Sampson’s girlfriend Teelah Cooper, 28, was charged with accessory after the fact to murder and concealing a serious indictable offence after presenting at Newcastle Police Station in January.
Police allege Cooper helped Sampson avoid apprehension until his arrest in Queensland. Sampson is serving a sentence in Queensland for an unrelated matter, but NSW Police are working to extradite him to face a murder charge over the death of Mr Callahan.
Briggs and a man named Jason Talbot, 27, were arrested the day after the alleged attack and charged with murder. Talbot was out on bail after being charged with multiple domestic violence and assault offences, Newcastle Local Court heard at the time.
Then on November 27, George James Fernando, 43, was arrested in Moree, and Frank Allen, 35, was arrested at a Sydney jail, and both were charged with murder.
None have been required to enter pleas.
Video of the alleged murder posted on social media was described by police as “shocking” and “distressing”, and shows Mr Callahan being attacked by a group of people while a woman repeatedly screams “bash him”.
One man appeared to repeatedly stab Mr Callahan in the back during the attack.
Other members of the group can be heard telling a bystander not to intervene or “I’ll smash your head in”.
Mr Callahan collapses in the street at the end of the video, and could not be saved despite the desperate efforts of police and paramedics.
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
The keen fisherman and passionate environmentalist was farewelled by more than 100 people at Stockton breakwall on a Sunday where his parents remembered him as a kind and caring soul who loved nature, The Newcastle News reported at the time.
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.
“He simply made a comment to a group of people about littering. As a result of that comment, we will allege a group of people attacked him,” he said.
“He suffered significant wounds and unfortunately passed away as a result of those injuries.”
Header image: Left, James Callahan (Facebook). Right, the alleged stabbing.
