Paramedic accused killer in verbal petrol station fight hours before stabbing

Police investigating the fatal attack on paramedic Steven Tougher say Jordan Fineanganofo was earlier spotted at a service station, where he allegedly got into a verbal fight. Meanwhile, family friends have described a “troubled” young man

Members of the community continue to lay floral tributes where paramedic Steven Tougher was killed on Friday. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Jeremy Piper

The man charged with the stabbing death of a paramedic is suspected of being involved in a verbal fight at a petrol station in the hours before the fatal attack.

Jordan James Fineanganofo, 21, remains in the mental health unit of Long Bail Jail after being charged with the murder of newlywed father Steven Tougher, 29, at Campbelltown last Friday.

NSW Police investigating the horrific attack have been told Fineanganofo was spotted at a service station at Ingleburn, in Sydney’s south, earlier that morning, where he allegedly got into a verbal fight with a man.

Police said Fineanganofo then got back into his blue Honda Jazz and drove about eight kilometres to a McDonalds car park where Mr Tougher had stopped to buy coffee and a muffin, shortly before 5.30am, and allegedly stabbed him up to 50 times.

Mr Tougher, a father-of-one with a second child on the way, was rushed to Liverpool Hospital where he died a short time later.

Jordan Fineanganofo, 21, (left) with his father Toketa Fineanganofo Picture: Facebook

As detectives continued to investigate Mr Tougher’s alleged murder, family friends of Fineanganofo said he was a “troubled” young man who struggled academically at school, and said he never recovered from the death of his older sister Mary-Jane.

“Jordan was very close to Mary … after she died, he sort of became reclusive, like he was depressed … you never saw him out (of the house) much,” a family friend told The Daily Telegraph.

Paramedic Steven Tougher, who was fatally stabbed outside a McDonalds in Sydney's southwest. Supplied

The friend said Mary Fineanganofo was only 19 when she died in 2021 from complications during surgery for an ongoing medical condition.

“The whole family has never really recovered, but especially her brother (Jordan),” the friend said.

Fineanganofo is the youngest of five children, and lived at home in Raby with his devout Latter-day Saint parents. He didn’t work, and is understood to have been on a disability pension.

A woman who answered the door at the Fineanganofo home on Tuesday said parents Toketa and Vika were “too upset” to talk about their son.

“We are very sorry for what’s happened, thank you for coming,” the woman said.

Lawyer Javid Faiz said Fineanganofo had been undergoing extensive mental health treatment recently for psychosis, including a hospital admission, but he wasn’t he wasn’t receiving treatment at the time of Mr Tougher’s alleged murder.

“I believe he was off treatment and medication at the time,” Mr Faiz said outside court.

A Go Fund Me fundraiser set up to support the distraught wife and family of Mr Tougher has raised more than $420,000, as thousands of people donate to help.

A funeral for the much-loved paramedic is expected to be held later this week.