Paul Thijssen forged documents for his visa, lied about his studies and meticulously rehearsed the murder of 21-year-old water polo coach Lilie James, including by staging “dry runs”, a coronial inquest into their deaths has heard.
James’s body was found with serious head injuries in the bathroom of the gymnasium at St Andrew’s Cathedral school, where she worked, in October 2023.
Police immediately began a search for 23-year-old Thijssen, who had been in a brief relationship with James that had ended days before her death. His body was found in the ocean below cliffs in Sydney’s eastern suburbs days later.
The inquest into both deaths began on Tuesday, with counsel assisting the NSW coroner, Jennifer Single SC, saying the murder of James was “calculated.”
“The preparation was calculated. It was not a momentary loss of control. It was a premeditated killing,” Single said.
There was evidence Thijssen had stalked James’ and rehearsed her murder, including by performing several “dry runs”, the counsel assisting said.
“In the days after [she broke up with him] … the evidence indicates that Paul stalked Lilie, Paul carefully planned his attack, and that in the hours before the attack, he rehearsed the attack, making a number of dry runs,” Single said.
After murdering James, Thijssen took her phone and drove to Vaucluse. Police were unable to locate that phone or Thijssen’s “usual phone” – instead only finding a backpack with an older phone alongside clothes and other items, the court heard.
“Paul disposed of his usual phone, and Lilie’s phone, possibly taking them with him over the cliff at Diamond Bay,” Single said.
Thijssen’s Netherlands-based parents were not in attendance, but had liaised with lawyers assisting the coroner, stating they had gathered evidence that “showed how Paul’s life derailed over the last two years of his life”, Single said.
They were not present at the inquest and did not want to put the information before the coroner, however.
Single told the court that there could have been several stressors in Thijssen’s life in the lead-up to the deaths, including the state of his work visa.
She said that during his applications for various work visas, Thijssen had forged documents, including references, job descriptions and pay slips.
Thijssen was raised in the Netherlands and had initially come to Australia with his parents between 2015 and 2017. He became sports captain and prefect at St Andrew’s.
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He returned to Australia several times after that, each time on a working holiday visa, which can only be issued three times to an individual.
The visa comes with a series of requirements that holders work in specified fields, such as agriculture, tourism or mining.
Single said he was on his third and last working holiday visa and that to attain previous visas he had forged documents to show he had worked at St Andrew’s outdoor education centre, Kirrikee, in the Southern Highlands of NSW.
While Thijssen was employed there for a period as a sports assistant and casual sports coach, he had embellished his role, stating in his applications he had worked as a “farmhand” at Kirrikee to meet the visa requirements.
The investigation also found that Thijssen had lied to family and friends about the reason for returning to Australia. He had told his parents he was enrolled to study a masters of teaching at the University of Sydney.
But Single told the court that there were no records of this study at the University of Sydney or any other university in Sydney. She said the money his parents had put aside to pay for his studies had not been spent.
The inquest continues.
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