A fifth person has been charged over the shocking alleged murder of Newcastle man James Callahan, who was allegedly stabbed to death by a group of aboriginals after he told them not to litter.
Teelah Cooper, 28, was charged with accessory after the fact to murder and concealing a serious indictable offence after presenting at Newcastle Police Station on Monday, the Daily Telegraph reported.
Police allege Cooper helped 33-year-old Ryan Sampson avoid apprehension until his arrest in Yeppoon on November 24. 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, 22, on November 17.
Mr Callahan, 22, was allegedly killed in Hamilton on November 17 after making a comment to a group of aboriginals about throwing rubbish while waiting for his order at a kebab shop following the end of his shift at work.
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.
Alivia Muriel Briggs, 33, and Jason Talbot, 27, were arrested the day after the alleged attack and charged with murder. Both were remanded in custody and neither applied for bail. Newcastle Local Court heard that Talbot was out on bail after being charged with multiple domestic violence and assault offences.
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 Sunday where his parents remembered him as a kind and caring soul who loved nature, The Newcastle News reported.
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, an image from video of the alleged murder. Right, James Callahan.
