Steven Dean Michael Walker-Ely guilty of murdering Birdsall Fa’apepele at Paget

“I’ve murdered someone”, a killer tells the triple-0 operator, triggering a “truly horrendous” find and equally disturbing trial which left many questions unanswered and a trail of grief stretching across the Tasman.

Steven Dean Michael Walker-Ely, 36, (left) will spend at least the next 20 years in jail for murdering 25-year-old Birdsall Fa’apepele (right), who died from a brutal and relentless knife attack on December 14, 2021.

A young, wounded man runs for his life in the dead of the night, pursued by a killer with murder on his mind and armed with a knife that he savagely and relentlessly plunges all over his victim’s body.

Only two people know the truth of what has really sparked this frenzied attack as they cross paths on a vacant block of land – and one of them, a tall, fit and attractive young footy player, is now dead and left alone by the roadside.

The knifeman will try to convince a jury his victim was the initial aggressor, by first attempting to rape him and then threatening to come back and kill him.

But the seven men and five women chosen to examine the evidence reject this story and find Steven Dean Michael Walker-Ely guilty of murder – he was jailed for life and he will now spend at least the next two decades behind bars.

‘Image of my son’s face taking his last breath still haunts me’

The details of the crime revealed over a five-day trial in Mackay Supreme Court were brutal and confronting.

Birdsall Fa’apepele suffered 42 stab wounds all over his body, some reaching between 8-12cm in depth that penetrated his lungs, liver, spinal cord, slashed major veins and fractured bones.

Mackay Magpies player Birdsall Fa'apepele who was killed on December 14, 2021 near a Paget caravan park.

Forensic pathologist Li Ma told the court severe force was needed to fracture bone.

The 25-year-old was left with gaping wounds to his neck and multiple deep wounds to his anus that Crown Prosecutor Josh Phillips described is “particularly callous”.

Mr Fa’apepele’s family excused themselves from the courtroom when the harrowing details were laid before the jury.

In a victim impact statement his mother Mafa Fa’apepele wrote, “The image of my son’s face as he was probably taking his last breath still haunts me. Every time I think about how helpless he was and how I wasn’t there to protect him makes me so sick.”

‘Hunter’ stalking his prey

Witness accounts at The Park caravan park in Paget detailed how Mr Fa’apepele and Walker-Ely had been speaking amicably not long after 1am on December 14, 2021.

Steven Dean Michael Walker-Ely was found guilty of murdering Mr Fa'apepele after a five-day Mackay Supreme Court trial.

CCTV footage taken just before 1.30am showed the pair had gone to the toilet together – more footage at 2.36am showed Walker-Ely returning to The Park alone.

At some point in that 60-minute window, the pair clashed and Mr Fa’apepele fled with Walker-Ely in pursuit, armed with his knife.

Mr Fa’apepele was a 6’2 and 107kg rugby league player, but he had a significant amount of alcohol in his system and was already injured having been stabbed in the chest while inside Walker-Ely’s van.

Mr Phillips said Walker-Ely “hunted” his prey for 660m including jumping a 6ft fence and crossing four lanes of traffic, even almost stepping out in front of a car before catching Mr Fa’apepele at a vacant block off Broadsound Rd.

Police in a vacant area off the Bruce Highway at Paget, near The Park caravan park, where the body of 25-year-old Mr Fa’apepele was found in the early hours. Picture: Matthew Forrest

It was here he delivered the 42 blows, although Walker-Ely told the court he had no memory of that moment.

The court heard Walker-Ely had no injuries.

How the case unfolded

Justice Graeme Crow said the case had an unusual feature, that being Walker-Ely had called police himself with his first words being, “I’ve murdered someone.”

“Seems to me that even you had come to some sense as to what you’d done, which was truly horrendous,” Justice Crow told him.

The court heard he also told police on that night Mr Fa’apepele had tried to rape him, adding later there had been repeated threats to kill which he took seriously.

His barrister told the court this provoked his client into losing self-control and reacting the way he did – a partial defence under Queensland law for a crime that would otherwise be murder.

Mackay Magpies player Birdsall Fa'apepele and his girlfriend of almost four years Kailey Prouse.

On day one of the trial Walker-Ely pleaded guilty to manslaughter, which meant even if he had been found not guilty of murder, he was still going to be jailed for an offence that holds a maximum penalty of life.

The crown prosecutor, Mr Phillips, did not really provide an alternative theory for what happened that night, only an inference there had been some type of connection.

But he did not have to. As Mr Phillips told the jury the burden of proof was solely on the defence.

‘You showed no mercy’

Mr Fa’apepele was not here to tell his side of the story, but his partner of four years Kailey Prouse, sister Sharmagne Fa’apepele and brother Tapu Fa’apepele spoke on his behalf in victim impact statements.

Sharmagne Fa'apepele, (centre) the sister of murdered man Birdsall Fa'apepele, speaks to media outside Mackay courthouse after watching his killer Steven Dean Michael Walker-Ely jailed for life. Standing with her are friends and family of Birdsall. Picture: Janessa Ekert

Ms Prouse said the trial had been “absolutely humiliating and degrading” on a whole different level.

“It has brought out only the ugliest, nastiest, and untruthful assumptions and aspects of Birdsall and that is not fair, he is not here to speak up,” she said.

“All you did was assist in a senseless act of violence, making up a false narrative to which Birdsall will never be able to tell his side and you showed no mercy.”

All three also spoke directly to Walker-Ely as he was being sentenced for murder, describing how he had ripped their world apart.

“I have spent too many nights tormented by death, I couldn’t sleep … too many months crying as soon as my eyes would open,” Ms Prouse said, describing how her heart was broken to the extent she was hospitalised for a panic attack that doctors initially thought was a minor heart attack.

Kailey Prouse, the partner of almost four years of Birdsall Fa'apepele speaks of her devastation after losing him. She wears a shirt in his honour. Picture: Janessa Ekert

She needed surgery two weeks after “you stole Birdsall away from me”.

“The loss I have experienced is beyond any words I could ever describe and has forever left a void that can never be filled,” Ms Prouse said, describe Mr Fa’apepele, who was one of eight siblings, as a “proud, selfless, strong man”.

“Bird’s heart was pure, his hands were giving, his laugh was contagious and his whole demeanour was humble.

“You have taken so much away from so many of us,” Ms Prouse told Walker-Ely.

Mr Fa’apepele still had his whole life to live. He had a loving family, devoted girlfriend and bright future.

Now his loved ones are all suffering a life sentence along with his murderer.