The daughter of an anti-drug ‘champion’ who was beaten and stabbed to death in a Sydney alleyway 21 years ago has shown up to court to come face-to-face with his alleged murderer for the first time.
Teela McPherson arrived at Sydney Central Court on Thursday to catch a glimpse of the man who handed himself into police and allegedly confessed to killing her father, Robert McPherson.
McPherson, 38, and a friend were walking along James St in Redfern on January 27, 1998, when they were attacked by a group of six men armed with baseball bats, a chain, a stick and a knife.
Police described McPherson as an anti-drug campaigner and believe it was possible he was attacked after ‘mouthing off’ drug dealers near an inner-Sydney heroin hotspot in the 90s.
He died of a stab wound to the chest and sustained head injuries and lacerations likely from being bashed with wooden bats and iron bars. His friend survived with minor injuries.
More than two decades later, Teela received a phone call from police informing her 41-year-old Nicholas Bentley had turned himself in on Wednesday over her father’s murder.
Teela McPherson (pictured) appeared at Sydney Central Court on Thursday to catch a glimpse of the man who allegedly killed her father 21 years ago
Teela, who was only a young girl when her father died, remembered him as ‘the best dad in the world’
She described getting the phone call as ‘overwhelming’ but felt hopeful she would get the closure she has been seeking all these years.
She remembered her father as her ‘rock and support,’ and called him ‘the best dad in the world.’
‘It’s like opening up an old wound, but to know that this person is actually going to jail and he has handed himself in or whatever he has done, at least I can put a face to it now,’ she told 9news.
‘As much as he’s a monster in my eyes, it’s also a part of the healing process,’ she said.
Bentley, who also goes by Jason Nicholas, had reportedly been released from Silverwater jail just nine days before.
He showed up at Redfern Police Station where he also turned himself in for a bank robbery he allegedly committed in 2002.
Robert McPherson was beaten and stabbed to death in Redfern alleyway on January 27, 1998. Mcpherson had been walking with a friend when he was attacked by a group of at least six men armed with baseball bats, a chain, a stick and a knife
Teela described getting the phone call as ‘overwhelming’ but felt hopeful she would get the closure she has been seeking all these years
According to court documents, he allegedly held up a Commonwealth Bank in Mascot at gunpoint in March 2002 where he ran off with $385,000.
He appeared in court on Thursday where he was charged with murder and robbery but a plea was not recorded. He did not apply for bail, but it was formally denied.
Teela hoped to look at her father’s alleged killer through the audio visual screen, but was few minutes too late, according to the Daily Telegraph.
According to police, McPherson was attacked during a time where the neighbourhood was dealing with an influx of street drug use.
Another theory suggests he may have yelled at a speeding driver to slow down before he was set upon.
Police bugged and searched a nearby home and eventually charged multiple members and associates of a suspected crime family with various roles in the killing.
Police believe it was possible McPherson, who was described as an anti-drug ‘champion’ at an inner-Sydney heroin hotspot in the 1990s, tried to intervene and was attacked by drug dealers
According to police, McPherson was attacked during a time where the neighbourhood was dealing with an influx of street drugs and dealings
Redfern police officer Richard McDonald told a parliamentary standing committee in 2003 that Mr McPherson was killed at a time the family’s nearby ‘drug-dealing fortress’ was brazenly flooding the suburb with heroin and cocaine.
‘Robert McPherson was an absolute champion,’ the officer – who was suspended at the time – said.
‘Mr McPherson used to get kids who were dealing drugs off the streets. All he did was walk home – they mouthed off at him and he might have mouthed off back.’
After years of complex legal proceedings, the prosecution of the group collapsed.
Bentley is expected before the same court again on June 13.
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