AN anonymous caller to Crime Stoppers said they knew who had stabbed to death homeless Bathurst man Reg Mullaly - even before police had determined how he’d died.
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An inquest into the 2015 murder Mr Mullaly opened in Orange on Monday and heard evidence that the person named in the call to Crime Stoppers remained a person of interest in the case.
Mr Mullaly’s body was found in a crude shelter under the Denison Bridge on September 20, 2015.
A post mortem three days later revealed he had been stabbed 11 times. The fatal blow was through his heart.
The inquest before Deputy State Coroner Elizabeth Ryan is expected to hear from 10 witnesses over four days.
Members of Mr Mullaly’s family attended the opening day of the inquest on Monday and Ms Ryan extended her sympathy to them, saying there were many questions as to how Mr Mullaly met his terrible fate.
In his opening address, counsel assisting the coroner, Sergeant Ben Hart, said there were four persons of significant interest in the matter: Shayne Miller, Stephen Greenfield, Nicole Fawns and Zachery Forbes (Nancarrow).
Miller, in custody on an unrelated matter, sat handcuffed in the dock. Greenfield and Fawns were also present. Forbes did not attend, but has said he would be there on Tuesday.
Sgt Hart said an anonymous call to Crime Stoppers on September 20, 2015 had nominated Stephen Greenfield as the killer.
The caller told Crime Stoppers that Greenfield had washed his body, a knife and bolt cutters with bleach at a property in Currawong Street, Bathurst.
At the time the call was made to Crime Stoppers, not even the officer in charge of the investigation knew that Mr Mullaly had been fatally stabbed.
Giving evidence, the officer in charge of the investigation, Detective Senior Constable Adrian Graham, said when he saw Mr Mullaly the only injury he observed was one to his face.
“He was holding what I thought was a tissue, but it was a serviette to left side of his face,” he said.
“There was no significant bleeding other than on the pillow.”
Mr Mullaly was wearing six layers of clothing at the time of his death and Detective Graham said police did not confirm he was stabbed when he was first found.
After the anonymous call, Detective Graham spoke with the Crime Stoppers operator who told him the caller had said Mr Mullaly had said “the wrong thing to Stephen [Greenfield]”.
The caller had said Mr Greenfield had blood on him which he scrubbed with bleach at the home in Currawong Street. The caller said he had taken a large Rambo-style knife with him when his friend Shayne Miller picked him up in a black car, but had left the bolt cutters at the house.
Detective Graham said he spoke to Greenfield who appeared very nervous. He told Greenfield he was investigating a death, and Greenfield said he had heard about it on Facebook.
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Detective Graham said he’d received information that Greenfield was responsible for the death. Greenfield denied the claim but said he would go to the police station with his solicitor.
When interviewed at the station, Detective Graham said Greenfield appeared agitated and inferred he was going “to get square” at the people making the allegations.
The inquest heard Shayne Miller was interviewed at the same time. The inquest heard Miller mentioned a stabbing or shooting to police, though at that time the cause of death was unknown.