{"id":157284,"date":"2025-11-28T02:02:13","date_gmt":"2025-11-28T02:02:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/157284\/"},"modified":"2025-11-28T02:02:13","modified_gmt":"2025-11-28T02:02:13","slug":"stalking-mistaken-as-affection-before-brutal-murder-of-sydney-sports-coach","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/157284\/","title":{"rendered":"Stalking mistaken as affection before brutal murder of Sydney sports coach"},"content":{"rendered":"

Seen smiling and chatting with his ex-girlfriend on a normal day at work, there was no indication sports coach Paul Thijssen would later bludgeon her to death in a school bathroom.<\/p>\n

But there were red flags in his obsessive digital surveillance of her location, which was seen by his friends as an indication of how much he liked 21-year-old Lilie James<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Another warning sign emerged when Thijssen showed an intimate image of James to his friends without her consent – a move that experts say was calculated to assert his dominance.<\/p>\n

\"Where<\/p>\n

Where to get help for domestic violence. (Source: 1News)<\/p>\n

Neither display of technology-facilitated abuse raised concerns for his friends, which experts believe is a testament to how worryingly normalised this behaviour has become among young people.<\/p>\n

Thijssen’s pattern of controlling and coercive behaviour ended on October 25, 2023 when he barged into a bathroom where James was changing at St Andrew’s Cathedral School in Sydney.<\/p>\n

The 24-year-old used a hammer to fatally strike her at least 25 times<\/a> in the head and neck after practising the murder earlier in the day during several “dry runs” captured on surveillance cameras.<\/p>\n

Following an inquest into her death, State Coroner Theresa O’Sullivan on Thursday found James had been killed by her ex-boyfriend in the context of domestic violence.<\/p>\n

\"Paul<\/p>\n

Paul Thijssen outside the gym bathroom before killing ex-girlfriend Lilie James. (Source: NSW Coroners Court)<\/p>\n

She identified a number of critical actions that can be taken to address technology-facilitated abuse through education, awareness raising and bystander intervention initiatives.<\/p>\n

Domestic violence expert Kate Fitz-Gibbon, who gave evidence at the inquest, welcomed the findings.<\/p>\n

“In the midst of a national crisis of men’s violence against women and children, these recommendations should be progressed with urgency and supported with appropriate funding,” she said<\/p>\n

The coroner adopted Professor Fitz-Gibbon’s suggestion that domestic violence screening tools should reflect the link between coercive control – including technology-facilitated abuse and physical stalking – and the risk of intimate partner homicide.<\/p>\n

“Attention should be paid to this recommendation in all Australian states and territories,” Fitz-Gibbon said.<\/p>\n

“These abusive behaviours can indicate a risk of escalation of violence, and intimate partner homicide, and should not go undetected.<\/p>\n

\"Sydney<\/p>\n

Sydney water polo coach Lilie James. (Source: Nine)<\/p>\n

Stalking – including online – occurred before 41.5% of intimate partner homicides in Australia, data from the Domestic and Family Violence Death Review Network shows.<\/p>\n

But more than one in 10 people think it’s reasonable to expect to track a partner during relationships, according to findings from the Social Research Centre.<\/p>\n

It shows that the younger generation of digital natives have normalised abusive behaviours online like harassment and coercive control, according to educational organisation Teach Us Consent.<\/p>\n

“We must take abuse online as seriously as we do abuse in-person,” chief executive Chanel Contos said.<\/p>\n

“Young people deserve the culturally relevant education about technology-facilitated abuse they need to form healthy relationships.”<\/p>\n

O’Sullivan echoed the sentiment when she endorsed the development of respectful relationship advice services, particularly for young men aged between 19 and 24.<\/p>\n

The morning’s headlines in 90 seconds, including a woman is killed by a shark in Australia, reprieve from hot nights on the way, and expect traffic chaos as sales escalate. (Source: 1News)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Seen smiling and chatting with his ex-girlfriend on a normal day at work, there was no indication sports…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":157285,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[85,67,42,43,40,38,41,39],"class_list":{"0":"post-157284","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-headlines","8":"tag-australia","9":"tag-crime-and-justice","10":"tag-headlines","11":"tag-news","12":"tag-top-news","13":"tag-top-stories","14":"tag-topnews","15":"tag-topstories"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/157284","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=157284"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/157284\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/157285"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=157284"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=157284"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=157284"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}