A "callous" killer will fight a charge laid over his alleged role in the unprovoked bashing of a fellow prisoner, who was battered so badly he ended up with "shoeprints on his face".
Frederick Elijah Mercy Tuifua fatally stabbed Canberra Comanchero commander Pitasoni Ulavalu in the neck as the bikie boss tried to break up a brawl at Kokomo's last July.
Tuifua, of Silverwater in western Sydney, pleaded guilty to a murder charge nine months later and also admitted he had knifed another bikie in the leg at the popular Civic nightclub.
Magistrate James Lawton described the confessed killer's actions as "callous" after watching CCTV footage of the murder during related court proceedings last month.
Tuifua, who has been behind bars since his arrest in August 2020, is also accused of taking part in a five-on-one attack on a fellow inmate within a few months of his arrival at the ACT's Alexander Maconochie Centre.
In court documents, police have said the victim was left with "what appeared to be shoeprints on his face", various cuts, two black eyes, bruising, swelling and other injuries after being "viciously attacked" for about 40 seconds in an exercise yard last November.
Agreed facts tendered in the case of prisoner Maximilian Ellis Kurt Budack, who has admitted his role in the assault, said the victim was punched, kicked and "slashed" until guards intervened.
Budack's fellow alleged assailants were Tuifua, Jesse Lee James Scott, Kieran Horan and former Brothers for Life chapter leader Damien Featherstone.
According to police, the victim refused to be interviewed by investigators because he was "terrified of repercussions".
"The entire incident" was, however, apparently captured by the jail's surveillance cameras.
Tuifua was not required in the ACT Magistrates Court on Friday afternoon, when his charge of joint commission assault occasioning actual bodily harm was mentioned.
Lawyer Amelia Gordon, appearing as an agent for Tuifua's high-profile Sydney solicitor Stephen Zahr, asked for the matter to be set down for a contested hearing.
Special Magistrate Jane Campbell listed the case for February 18 next year, noting it would likely only take one day.
Tuifua is expected to be sentenced in the ACT Supreme Court for the murder later this year.
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