Kayla Dawson and Richard Sione on trial for Jason Galleghan’s bashing death

A court has heard a teen told police she “set the murder up” after a 16-year-old boy was bashed to death in her western Sydney home, minutes after secret cameras captured her in hysterics.

Two adults are on trial over their alleged roles in the fatal bashing of Jason Galleghan.

A teen charged with participating in the brutal bashing death of a 16-year-old boy told police she “set the murder up” because he stole from her.

Kayla Dawson and Richard Sione are both defending murder charges in the NSW Supreme Court after teen Jason Galleghan was bashed to death inside Dawson’s Doonside home on August 6, 2021.

Police allege Sione was one of several people who savagely assaulted Jason before he died and that Dawson had lured him to her house to have him bashed for stealing her AirPods.

Dawson was then 19 and is defending the charge on the basis she was impaired due to her intellectual disability and that she acted under duress.

Sione, now 32, is arguing he did not deal the fatal blows to Jason.

Kayla Dawson

In police bodyworn footage from August 8 2021, tendered to the court on Wednesday, a tearful Dawson in a red cap, black jacket and black pants tells an officer: “I set the murder up”.

“I set it up, I called him and told him to come … I set it up,” Dawson tells the officer.

“You called him and told him to come here?” the officer confirms.

“He was gonna get bashed but I didn’t know he was gonna get murdered,” Dawson responds.

“Why did you call him to get bashed?” the officer asks.

“Cause he stole from me,” Dawson answers.

Richard Sione

Dawson repeatedly wiped tears from her eyes before she was escorted to a police car, waving to her then-partner Harley Bartolo.

Bartolo earlier pleaded guilty to being an accessory after the fact to the assault and there is no suggestion he was involved in the bashing.

Crown prosecutor Phil Hogan asked Detective Snr Cnst Travis Leonard to confirm Dawson is alleged to have continued talking to an officer who drove her to Blacktown police station.

“Kayla Dawson said, ‘I don’t feel safe in my street anymore, everyone wants to bash me …’cause I set up the murder’,” Mr Hogan asked.

“Kayla said ‘I thought they were just gonna bash him, not kill him’.”

“Yes,” Det Snr Cnst Leonard responded.

At Blacktown police station, Dawson is alleged to have said “I want to do what’s right, I want to say what’s happened ‘cause it’s the truth and I’m scared” before an NDIS support worker intervened and reminded her that her lawyer had told her not to talk.

Kayla Dawson

The court had previously seen footage from a secret police bug inside Dawson’s home, in which she sobs uncontrollably to Bartolo while lying on a couch and smoking.

“I need to get out of here, I don’t know what I’m gonna do,” Dawson sobbed.

The pair then took a phone call on speaker from a woman said to be close to Bartolo.

“I didn’t do it,” Dawson says.

“You f--king did, you set it up, p, therefore if you didn’t f--king set it up it wouldn’t have f--king happened” the woman on the phone responds angrily.

“This little boy’s life wouldn’t have got taken, ‘cause of you …’cause of you this little boy’s life has been taken.”

Jason Galleghan

Bartolo then stated the police wanted to speak to him again.

“I wasn’t part of it, I hate every c--t in this house, I hate every f--ker in this house,” Bartolo said angrily.

“I said ‘it’s been a month, get over it’, no-one listened to me - everyone in this house had alcohol in their system, there’s no way I’m gonna try and stop it, they would’ve done the same thing to me.”

The woman on the phone then warned Dawson “you’re probably going to be safer in jail than out here”.

The trial continues.