Duo arrested over shooting death of Ferenc ‘David’ Stemler at Canterbury
A pregnant woman and a prison inmate have been arrested in connection with the shocking underworld execution of a Sydney drug dealer in a main suburban street last year. WATCH episode two of The War: Kill or be Killed here.
Police & Courts
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A former prison worker who is pregnant with the baby of a man she met while he was behind bars is one of two people to be charged with murder over an alleged underworld shooting last year.
Rhylee Stig, 23, was arrested at a home in Wetherill Park on Wednesday by Taskforce Magnus detectives and charged over her alleged involvement in the shooting death of Ferenc “David” Stemler at Canterbury on July 27 last year.
Vision showed a heavily pregnant Stig being led into a police car by detectives, before being taken to Fairfield Police Station and charged.
The Daily Telegraph can reveal Stig is six months pregnant with a baby to Michael Tuite, who is currently behind bars on remand having been previously charged by Taskforce Magnus detectives with intent to murder over another shooting at Auburn on August 13 last year.
Tuite has not been charged over Stemler’s death and there is no suggestion of any involvement on his behalf.
Mr Stemler’s death sparked outrage due to it being the fifth shooting in just a few weeks, and it led to the formation of Taskforce Magnus.
NSW Police Assistant Commissioner Michael Fitzgerald said that with the charging of Ms Stig and another man, Sione Langi, over the killing of Mr Stemler, Taskforce Magnus had now arrested somebody for all of the fatal shootings it was tasked with investigating.
“While the work is never truly done, this is a huge feat for our command, who were given the difficult job of circuit-breaking the brazen violence we saw unfolding on our streets,” Asst Comm Fitzgerald said on Thursday.
“The safety of our wider community has — and always will be — our number one priority, and the people of NSW our motivation for crafting such a significant response; one that has evidently had noteworthy success.”
Asst Comm Fitzgerald said suggestions in mid-2023 that police had lost control of the streets “personally offended” him and his officers.
The announcement of Taskforce Magnus saw hundreds of detectives put under the leadership of Chief Superintendent Jason Weinstein, a drastic move, the size of which had never been seen in NSW Police history.
But it brought results, with arrests over the alleged murders of Marvin Oraiha at Elizabeth Hills, Alen Moradian at Bondi Junction, Ahmed Al-Azzam at Greenacre, the attempted murder of William and Eric Siale at a Marrickville barber shop, and now also over Stemler’s death.
Langi, who was charged with Mr Stemler’s murder, had also previously been charged over the shooting of the Siale brothers.
The links between Stemler and the Siale brothers were revealed in episode two of The War II: Kill or be Killed, released this week.
Homicide Squad Detective Inspector Virginia Gorman said Stemler was not a “major player” in the underworld, and that he had gone to school with the Siale brothers in the local area.
Police allege Mr Stemler had walked out of his Canterbury home to meet Langi and another unknown man about 2am when he was shot.
The next morning The Daily Telegraph captured a photo showing young schoolchildren walking past Mr Stemler’s bloodied body, which had been momentarily uncovered by police.
Another revelation in the latest episode of The War II, out Thursday, is that William Siale had been the victim of a shooting once before.
That incident occurred in October 2014, when police were called to St Clair St in Belmore where they found Siale suffering gunshot wounds.
Siale, then in his early-20s, was shot three times — with one bullet hitting him in the heart and another in the right thigh.
Incredibly, despite his injuries, he managed to run away from the scene to a nearby street where he collapsed.
“The thought at the time was that shooting was about a street dispute,” a police source said.
“He (Siale) wouldn’t co-operate with police.”
Detectives released CCTV footage of balaclava-clad and hooded men opening fire a few months later as part of the ongoing investigation.
Police said at the time they believed there were four men involved in the shooting, three who were on the street at the time bullets were fired and a fourth man waiting in the getaway car.
No one has ever been charged over the 2014 shooting of Siale.
Three men have so far been charged by Taskforce Magnus over their alleged involvement in the Marrickville barber shop shooting, including Jayden Mahara, 26, and Sione Langi, 28, for allegedly shooting at the pair with intent to murder.
Christmar Barnares, 28, was also charged for allegedly participating in a criminal group as part of the shooting.
Mahara, Langi and Barnares all remain behind bars on remand, with none of them entering pleas so far.
It is not suggested Mahara, Langi or Barnares had any involvement in the shooting of Siale back in 2014. It is also not suggested that they had any involvement in Stemler’s death.
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