Teelah Cooper knew her boyfriend had allegedly killed a man on Beaumont Street at Hamilton.
She has now admitted that she helped him anyway.
The 30-year-old woman fronted Newcastle Local Court, flanked by a support person, this week when she pleaded guilty to being an accessory after the fact to murder.
It came almost two years after 22-year-old James Callahan was stabbed to death after allegedly making a comment about littering in the early hours of November 17, 2024.
Cooper admitted that she knew her boyfriend, Ryan Sampson, had allegedly murdered Mr Callahan when she received, harboured and assisted him at Hamilton, Karuah, Raymond Terrace and elsewhere in the state.
Sampson was ultimately arrested in Queensland and extradited to NSW.
While Cooper has pleaded guilty to the charge, Newcastle Local Court heard that lawyers on both sides were still negotiating the exact details of her offending, to be laid out in an agreed facts document.
Prosecutors had initially flagged an application for an adjournment, but Judge Caleb Franklin said the parties had been trying to settle the matter for months.
He said the case had been before the courts since January 2025.
"Neither party should assume that I am just going to adjourn this matter today ... go and sort it out," he said.
The case was able to progress after a plea was ultimately entered. Prosecutors withdrew one charge of concealing a serious offence.
Cooper will face Newcastle District Court for the first time next month, where she will be sentenced at a later date.
Cooper was arrested in January 2025 and granted bail, but was back in custody weeks later, accused of repeatedly breaching bail by contacting Sampson in jail.
The court heard at that time that Cooper was accused of driving Sampson away from the scene, selling the car and then fleeing to Queensland with him.
Cooper was eventually granted bail in the NSW Supreme Court earlier this year. Her conditions were continued after her guilty plea this week.
Sampson, Jason Talbot, George Fernando, Dianne Fernando and Frank Allen have pleaded not guilty to murder over the death of Mr Callahan, and will face an eight-week trial next year.
Sampson's sister, Alivia Muriel Briggs, stabbed Mr Callahan in the chest during the attack and has pleaded guilty to murder. She will be sentenced in Newcastle Supreme Court in February.
Beaumont Street was flooded with tributes to Mr Callahan after his tragic death. He was remembered as an avid fisherman, environmentalist and a loving son, brother and friend.
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