A chef has pleaded guilty to manslaughter after stabbing a drug-affected teenager near a campsite on the outskirts of Sydney.
Jacob Greig was arrested in November 2024 and initially charged with murder after the body of a 15-year-old boy was discovered in bushland near Wilton.
Greig appeared today before the Campbelltown Local Court via video-link from Parklea Correctional Centre, where prosecutors told the court the charge had been reduced to manslaughter.
The 33-year-old, who worked as a chef at the Bargo Sports Centre, pleaded guilty to manslaughter by acting with intent to cause grievous bodily harm by reason of excessive self-defence.
Camping trip disturbed by drugs
An agreed set of facts tendered to the court showed the deceased, who cannot be named for legal reasons, was camping with a group of teenage boys at Maldon Weir Suspension Bridge on the night of the incident.
Some of the young campers, including the deceased, had taken LSD and smoked marijuana, with several having a negative reaction to the drugs.
Flowers at the scene where the deceased teenager was discovered in Wilton in November 2024. (ABC News)
Later that evening, a group of campers walked to a nearby road to accompany a teenager who had arranged to be picked up by a relative after becoming anxious from the effects of the drugs.
The deceased began "acting wildly" after encountering a group of three men in a ute on the road, repeatedly trying to climb inside their car.
The strangers then teased the group, throwing firecrackers at their feet before leaving the area.
After starting a fight with another camper, the deceased refused to return to the campsite and was left alone near the road.
Fatal stabbing
He then confronted a car occupied by Jacob Greig and a woman Greig was in an intimate relationship with.
As the woman attempted a three-point turn to leave the area, court documents showed the deceased ran up to the car "freaking out", attempting to enter the vehicle and threatening the pair.
A police crime scene established after the body of a teenager was discovered in Wilton in 2024. (ABC News: Brooke Chandler)
He then began "crying hysterically" before suddenly becoming angry and violent, jumping on top of the side of the car.
Believing the teenager had damaged the car, Greig got out of the vehicle and confronted the boy.
"I'll f***ing kill ya, you f***ing dog," Greig said during the confrontation.
The 33 year-old slashed the teenager's right forearm with a chef's knife.
The couple then drove from the area, stopping at one point to wipe blood from the windscreen of the vehicle.
The next morning, a group of teenage campers renewed search efforts to find their missing friend.
He was discovered at 7:00am, approximately 50 metres from where the group had stopped searching the night before.
"They were confused and angry," the court documents noted.
"None of them could comprehend that their friend was dead."
Excessive self-defence
The court documents noted that the prosecution and the defence agreed a single stab wound had caused the death of the teenager.
"It is agreed that he did so with an intention to cause grievous bodily harm, and that the crown cannot exclude that he did so believing it was necessary to protect himself or [the woman] from the deceased," the police facts said.
"However, it is also agreed that the belief was not reasonable in the circumstances as he perceived them."
Grieg will return to Campbelltown District court in September for sentencing.
