Paget murder case: Steven Dean Michael Walker-Ely’s Triple-0 call
Holding his phone with blood on his hands just minutes after he allegedly came close to decapitating a man he met hours earlier, the alleged murderer of a rising rugby league star called his mum before phoning triple-0.
Police & Courts
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“Um, I’ve murdered someone. I’m at 284 Farrelly’s Road, I’m in the caravan park. My name’s Steve Walker.”
These are the first words Steven Dean Michael Walker-Ely allegedly uttered to a Triple-0 phone operator the night Birdsall Fa’apepele died in a field in Paget.
Documents before Brisbane Supreme Court reveal for the first time details of the alleged Triple-0 recording with Mr Walker-Ely.
When asked who he was referring to, he told the operator: “Um, I don’t know the guy’s name, he tried to rape me and, um, I chased him, I, he’s probably halfway back down towards McDonalds, on the, on the highway, I chased him down and um yeah, so if someone can come here and just talk to me now, and that would be good.”
Court documents say Mr Walker-Ely then responded to the person taking his call about how the alleged injuries occurred.
“Um, I stabbed him a whole heap of times,” he allegedly said before saying the knife was with Mr Fa’apepele’s body.
“Nah, it’s still with him, with the body. I walked home, I calmed down, I called my mum and yep,” he said.
“Um, can, can you tell them I’m not aggressive … I’m owning up to what I’ve done and, I’ve had time to calm down and yeah they don’t have to be forceful with me, I know what I’ve done,” court documents detail.
Once police arrived, Mr Walker-Ely allegedly said “he tried to rape me but was not successful” and “I called you because I wanted to do the right thing”.
When asked further about the rape allegation and whether he would consent to a sexual assault examination as part of the investigation, police described Mr Walker-Ely becoming agitated and defensive.
“You are f — ing embarrassing me, I don’t want to say anything else without a lawyer,” he allegedly said.
Police say they found Mr Fa’apepele, 25, naked with a knife lying next to his head about 630m away from The Park caravan park where the two men reportedly met in the early hours of December 14, 2021.
Officers say the body was lying in a field with about 26 knife wounds and a V-shaped blunt force injury to his forehead.
Police placed Mr Walker-Ely in a full-length blue forensic suit in handcuffs, taking photos that would be later be placed on the court file for his bail application.
Photos depict him with a shaved head, gingery brown moustache and beard, and large nostril septum ring. He has a tattooed left foot and a tattooed chest with a map of Australia on his stomach that reads Australia Made. Photos show blood on his hands.
Mr Walker-Ely was ultimately charged with murdering Mr Fa’apepele, a much-loved Magpies rugby league player.
The Crown, in its unsuccessful bid to keep Mr Walker-Ely in custody on remand earlier this month, labelled the alleged crime as “extremely serious”.
“(Mr Walker-Ely) is alleged to have repeatedly stabbed (Mr Mr Fa’apepele) without cause (on the prosecution case) in a vicious and prolonged manner causing his death,” a submission on bail documents before Brisbane Supreme Court read.
“(Mr Walker-Ely is alleged to have) almost decapitated the deceased with a small knife, which it can be inferred would have required considerable force to inflict such injuries.
“The catalyst for the offending is particularly concerning, that being, what police allege, was a sexual encounter following the consumption of alcohol that turned violent.
“It appears that this caused (Mr Walker-Ely) to launch into a vicious and sustained assault – (he) is alleged to have chased the deceased … eventually slitting the deceased’s throat, with such a degree of force to inflict that level of injury.
“(Mr Walker-Ely’s alleged) propensity to offend in such a vicious manner is particularly concerning.”
In documents tendered to the court for the bail application, the Crown outlined the police case against Mr Walker-Ely – including allegations he had talked about performing fellatio on a man in the lead-up to this night.
“The investigation is still ongoing, and in its infancy; however, police have developed the following case theory based on the current evidence,” the submission read.
The Crown case is that Mr Walker-Ely had been having recent thoughts about homosexual exploration.
Prosecutors will allege the two men “chance upon each other” in the caravan park but had not previously met.
They drank alcohol for one to two hours before, police suspect, Mr Walker-Ely made “sexual advances” that Mr Fa’apepele rejected.
Police say forensic evidence suggests at least one stab wound occurred in the caravan before Mr Fa’apepele fled, jumped over a fence onto Broadsound Road and yelled “you faggot” while running away.
The case theory is that Mr Fa’apepele was running naked and dropped his shorts on the roadway after jumping the fence, while Mr Walker-Ely chased him 629m to a grass field where further, fatal injuries were allegedly delivered with the knife.
“The injuries are such that it indicates passion/anger (wounds to face, throat, head, back) and homosexually motivated (multiple wounds to crevasse of backside and incision down spine into backside),” the Crown alleged in court documents.
The Crown says it relies on evidence from a 35-year-old train driver Mr Walker-Ely met while skydiving in Airlie Beach and subsequently developed a sexual relationship with.
“I remember that while we were spending time together, we have had several conversations about pushing each other’s boundaries sexually,” she allegedly said in a statement to police.
“I remember that during conversations we spoke about the potential of having a threesome.
“I remember Steve saying that he was not gay in anyway but he was maybe interested in giving another bloke a blow job.
“It was an idea in question and not something that he had committed to doing in his head.
“He said that he’s never done that before and that he’s never told anyone before that he’s wanted to do it.”
In arguing Mr Walker-Ely should not be released, Crown prosecutor Annica Fritz said he was a risk to the safety of the general public because of the alleged escalation of his behaviour and there was a risk he could interfere with the witnesses.
She said there were also two prison phone calls during his 81 days in custody that suggested he might abscond to Western Australia and was trying to get an “engine number” so his prison calls could be secretive, something he was willing to risk an extra six months in jail for.
Mr Walker-Ely ultimately received bail earlier this month after his mother paid a $500,000 surety as a guarantee he would live at her home in New South Wales and would not abscond.
He is on numerous strict conditions including wearing a tracking device on his ankle, abiding by a 24-hour curfew and no alcohol.
The 33-year-old man is only allowed to have one mobile phone and it must not have any encrypted applications installed such as Wickr, Snapchat, Signal or WhatsApp.
Defence barrister Saul Holt – a Queen’s Counsel who is considered one of the state’s top barristers – conceded the Crown case was strong in his submission to the court but his client retained the presumption of innocence.
He said his client would be sentenced to life imprisonment if convicted of murder but the evidence allowed for defences at trial that left manslaughter and acquittal open to a jury.
“There is little if any doubt the Crown will be able to prove that (my client) caused the death of the deceased with the requisite intention,” he said.
“However, live issues at trial will be self-defence and provocation given (Mr Walker-Ely) explained to the police that the deceased had tried to rape him.
“The risks associated with (Mr Walker-Ely’s) release on bail can be ameliorated to an acceptable level by the imposition of the above bail conditions.”
The Crown describes CCTV depicting the two men talking to each other near a caravan, going to a toilet block together while talking and then returning to Walker’s caravan.
CCTV shows the two men go in and out of view of the camera from 1.30am to 2.01am when they appear to become involved in a physical altercation and are wrestling.
The Crown says they see Mr Walker-Ely push Mr Fa’apepele, making him fall backwards, and then he throws something toward Mr Fa’apepele.
They go out of sight at 2.06am until 2.36am when Mr Walker-Ely walks back into the frame with no shirt and is bloodied.
Mr Holt said the evidence showed Mr Fa’apepele was planning to visit a friend of his at the caravan park that night.
He said Mr Fa’apepele’s friend had already gone to sleep and he did not know which caravan he was in.
“It appears from that background and CCTV footage that the (two men) met by chance and spent about 35 minutes together before an incident occurred in the caravan leading to violence and ultimately resulting in the fatal injuries occurring,” he said.
“Much is unknown about the 35-minute period.”
Ms Fritz said even if provocation was open as a defence, it would still be open to find Mr Walker-Ely “guilty of manslaughter”.
But she said if self-defence against a provoked assault was used, the Crown would submit Mr Walker-Ely’s force was “not reasonable or necessary” to prevent death or grievous bodily harm.
“It is submitted that self-defence is not open to the applicant, and if it were, the (alleged) vicious assault by the applicant on the deceased was entirely disproportionate to any ‘alleged attack’ that the deceased could have inflicted,” she said.
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