High-profile Australian rapper charged with homicide

A high-profile Sydney drill rapper will face court over the alleged stabbing death of a popular rugby league player on a city street outside a fast-food restaurant.

Jacob Tammer-Spence, who goes by rap name Snoee Badman, was arrested at Concord in Sydney‘s inner-west on Wednesday afternoon and is due to face Burwood Local Court charged with murder on Thursday.

Sitaleki ‘Leki’ Filihiahekava, 32, was allegedly fatally stabbed outside a Guzman y Gomez outlet on Marrickville Road, Marrickville, at about 7.40pm on Monday, after having dinner with his family. 

Police canvassed CCTV footage from the road as they searched for his alleged attacker. Some restaurants had to stop trading for the night.

Police believe the alleged stabbing was a targeted attack and are investigating possible links to organised crime.

Filihiahekava was believed to have been dining before leaving and briefly meeting up with another man prior to the alleged stabbing, police said.

It was revealed earlier on Wednesday that Mr Filihiahekava was an associate of Dejan ‘Danny’ Radulovic, who was beaten and stabbed to dath in July last year in Balmain.

Radulovic was on parole for drug supply at the time, and police suspect the attack was over a drug-related dispute.

Filihiahekava was also friendly with William Siale, who alongside his brother Eric, were shot while sitting in a barber shop in July last year.

The Siale brothers survived the shooting which occurred on the same street where Mr Filihiahekava died on Monday.

Police and distressed family members rushed to help him and administered first aid, but despite their efforts, Mr Filihiahekava could not be saved.

Witnesses heard the ‘heartbreaking’ cries of the man’s mother, while his brother arrived at the scene and tried to lift the sheet covering the body.

Police held back the distraught man who was heard screaming: ‘He’s my f***ing brother, don’t touch me.’

‘It was a highly emotive crime scene,’ Acting Superintendent Ben Kennis told reporters.

‘A male did breach the crime scene and had to be restrained by the police.’

Other distressed relatives were heard wailing as police searched the surrounding scene with flashlights searching for evidence, and interviewed nearby shopkeepers.

Mr Filihiahekava’s relatives were moved on by police before the scene was cordoned off.

Superintendent Kennis explained police allege the ‘two people met, and the attack was somewhat targeted’.

‘It was not random in nature,’ he alleged. ‘It’s too early to say if they had arranged it … it was clear that they did know each other.’ 

Superintendent Kennis did not comment on Mr Filihiahekava’s injuries but said they were inflicted with a ‘sharp instrument’. 

‘I don’t know whether it was a knife… I know it was a sharp instrument given the injuries. I cannot say with any certainty what weapon used was,’ he said. 

On Tuesday morning, bouquets of flowers, handwritten notes and a lit candle were left outside the front of the Mexican restaurant, as Mr Filihiahekava’s loved ones struggle to come to terms with his loss.

‘Rest in peace my brother,’ read one.

Mascot Juniors rugby league club paid tribute the former player following his death.

‘Leki was a much loved player of our club who played with his heart on his sleeve (and always with a joke and a smile), every time he took the field with those he called his brothers,’ the club said on social media.