Connor Godfrey enters 11th-hour plea over killing of man in Sydney Oaks Hotel staircase

A man involved in a violent altercation in a hotel staircase which led to a man’s death has pleaded guilty to his role in the killing in an 11th hour twist.

A Sydney man charged with killing another man following a violent altercation at a Sydney CBD hotel complex on Easter Sunday has made an 11th hour admission to his role in the death.

Connor Godfrey appeared in the NSW Supreme Court on Friday where he was set to be arraigned for a charge of murder over the death of 43-year-old Giuseppe Pagano.

Mr Pagano was found dead in the hallway of The Oaks Hotel on Castlereagh St at Haymarket in the early hours of Easter Sunday in 2021.

NSW Police carry bags of evidence bags from the Oaks Hotel on Castlereagh Street in Sydney after a man was killed in the building. Picture: NCA NewsWire/Bianca De Marchi.

It is understood the pair had met just hours before the incident and got into a fight while in the hotel staircase. Godfrey claims he acted in self defence.

The 22-year-old faced just one day of a trial earlier this year before the jury was discharged.

He faced court via audiovisual link wearing his prison greens where a Crown prosecutor told the court they would be accepting a plea of manslaughter.

The Oaks Hotel where it’s alleged Connor Godfrey killed a man on. Picture: NCA NewsWire/Bianca De Marchi

Justice Helen Wilson said to the court: “Connor Godfrey you stand charged by that name... on 4 April 2021 at Haymarket that you did unlawfully kill Giuseppe Pagano.”

“Guilty, your honour,” Godfrey said.

Justice Wilson accepted the plea to the lesser charge and adjourned the matter to July 14.

Godfrey has been in custody on remand since he was arrested on the day of the incident.