Bailey Clifford: Plea hearing for killer of Paul Grapsas

For the first time the shocking details of the stabbing death of Geelong father Paul Grapsas have been revealed.

Bailey Clifford last week pleaded guilty to the manslaughter of Geelong father Paul Grapsas.

It was an ordinary night for Paul Grapsas, when he left his home on Western Beach Rd road to walk his dog on September 14, 2023.

Earlier that evening, he’d been out to dinner with his wife, Jessica, and their two daughters. They’d returned home about 7pm.

Mr Grapsas then left to visit his father at Epworth hospital in Waurn Ponds, where he was being treated for cancer.

On his way out of the hospital, he had a video call with Jessica, so he could say goodnight to the children as they went to bed.

About 9.30pm, he arrived home, parking his Mitsubishi Lancer on the street and briefly speaking with Mrs Grapsas, who was six-months pregnant with the couple’s third child.

She went to bed and Mr Grapsas grabbed his keys and took their spoodle, Bailey, for their usual evening walk.

He had a regular route, an hour-long loop, that he took every night – but this wasn’t going to be a regular night.

Meanwhile Bailey Clifford arrived in the same area, having caught an Uber from Belmont.

Soon, the unemployed teenage thief would become a killer.

Clifford last week pleaded guilty to manslaughter over the killing of Mr Grapsas last week, on the eve of a murder trial, and on Monday fronted the Supreme Court at Geelong where the full details of his crimes were aired for the first time.

Paul Grapsas and his wife, Jessica.

Crown prosecutor Catherine Parkes told the court that just after 10pm, after arriving in central Geelong, Clifford exchanged text messages with his father, who told him to stay away from his Belmont home, and that he would go to the police station to get an order keeping him away.

Clifford unsuccessfully attempted to gain access to numerous cars in the area, trying doors along Western Beach Rd, before turning west towards Cavendish and Malone streets.

Meanwhile, Mr Grapsas had a brief text exchange with Jessica just before 11pm – she asked if he could hang out the washing. Mr Grapsas said okay.

About 10 minutes later, Clifford climbed into Mr Grapsas’ Mitsubishi and rummaged inside, looking for things to steal.

Mr Grapsas saw Clifford in his car, and ran to confront the thief. Clifford produced a knife and stabbed Mr Grapsas seven times during the ensuing altercation.

Gravely injured, Mr Grapsas collapsed into the gutter next to the vehicle and Clifford fled.

After 11.30pm, Clifford contacted an associate, who was woken by the Snapchat call.

Clifford told the man he’d “really f---ed up”.

“I knew something was horribly wrong by the way he was breathing,” Ms Parkes quoted the man as saying.

Clifford said: “I think I killed someone, I stabbed him”, the court heard. He was crying and struggling to speak.

The associate asked if he’d called an ambulance, Clifford said he walked away.

He asked to come over, the man agreed and Clifford ordered an Uber.
At midnight, Clifford was captured on CCTV at the waterfront skate park.

He’d changed clothes, and sat by the toilets as he waited to be picked up.

When he arrived in Armstrong Creek, his associate said: “What the f--- have you done?” and Clifford broke down in tears.

He said he had been breaking into cars, and entered an unlocked car when a man ran towards him shouting “I’m going to kill you”.

He said he became really scared and stabbed him “twice to the chest”, describing it has “bang, bang”.

The associate was in “complete shock and terror”, Ms Parkes told the court, and told Clifford he needed to hand himself in to police, telling him: “you f--king have to”.

He asked Clifford if he still had the knife; Clifford pulled out a black fishing knife in a sheath, with a 15cm blade; he was asked if he stole things from the car; Clifford pulled out Mr Grapsas’ car keys and wallet.

“What the f---?” his associate responded, before Clifford used his mobile phone to arrange another car pick-up.

Before Clifford left, the man again told him to hand himself in. Clifford said he “couldn’t”.

About 4.15am on September 15, Mrs Grapsas woke to the sound of a dog growling and saw the hallway light was on.

She called her husband, but he didn’t answer. She texted him, but he did not respond.

Heading outside to check if the Lancer was still there, she found Mr Grapsas lying in the gutter.

“No, no, no,’ she screamed, racing over to where Mr Grapsas lay.

She touched him, his body was cold. She called triple-0 and police arrived at 4.30am.

In an emotional and powerful victim impact statement, Mrs Grapsas told the court it was “one of the most unforgettable and terrible days” of her life.

“It haunts me... the imagery of my love lying dead in a pool of blood behind his head, slumped half in a gutter at 4am,” she said.

She stared Clifford down across the courtroom and asked: “How could you just leave him there?”

Clifford’s crimes had “ripped (her) in half”, she said, left her world “broken”, shattered her sense of safety and left her feeling unable to care for her children in the same way.

“Paul’s precious life was taken, and mine was shattered,” she said.

“You have stabbed and killed my future, and the future of my children”

Mr Grapsas was pronounced dead on 4.40am, a post-mortem conducted on September 16 revealing seven stab wounds.

Mr Grapsas sustained injuries behind his left ear, his upper chest, his finger, his hip, his lower, mid and upper back.

It was the seventh stab wound, in Mr Grapsas upper back, that was ultimately fatal, penetrating the lung and severing the pulmonary artery, and resulting in blood in Mr Grapsas airway.

Clifford would again meet with the associate at a bus stop in Armstrong Creek, subsequent to the killing. The man had seen the news on Facebook, and said to Clifford: “You killed him”.

Clifford started crying and hugged the man, the court heard, who told him needed to do “the right thing”.

Clifford said he couldn’t – he was too scared.

Originally published as Bailey Clifford: Plea hearing for killer of Paul Grapsas