A high-profile murder trial in Sydney has taken a shocking turn as local rapper Jacob Tamma-Spence, known as “Snowy Badman,” made a last-minute confession to manslaughter for a fatal stabbing on Marrickville Road in 2024. Prosecutors accepted the plea after acknowledging that Tamma-Spence was acting in self-defense, despite his violent “gangster” persona portrayed in music videos.
CCTV and mobile phone footage captured a brief, 30-second altercation outside a restaurant that ended with 32-year-old Sitaleki Filihiahekava being fatally stabbed in the chest, an incident witnessed by bystanders and an off-duty doctor. However, court evidence revealed that after the stabbing, Tamma-Spence did not offer assistance but instead briefly returned to the scene to pick up his girlfriend’s takeaway food before fleeing, and he was arrested two days later after police found the murder weapon — a curved, serrated knife — hidden in a pot plant based on a hand-drawn map he provided to his brother.
Tamma-Spence claimed he feared for his life and believed the victim was about to shoot him, though no weapon was found on Filihiahekava, and he now remains in custody awaiting sentencing next month.
