A woman who decapitated her own mother and tore out the hair of two prison guards has admitted to further attacks,lunging at one officer and ripping tufts from the scalp of another after fellow inmates taunted “we know what you did”.
Jessica Camilleri has been serving a maximum of 16-and-a-half years’ imprisonment for the manslaughter of her mother Rita Camilleri,who she stabbed more than 100 times in the head and neck in St Clair,in Sydney’s west,in July 2019.
Rita Camilleri (left) and her daughter Jessica.Police Media,Facebook
Last year,Camilleri inside Silverwater Women’s Correctional Centre in 2021. They were left with bald patches and experienced “excruciating pain”.
Her non-parole period as a result,making her first eligible for release on parole in July 2032 after at least 13 years behind bars.
However,the 30-year-old has now pleaded guilty to two further assaults,this time on two female prison guards at Dillwynia Correctional Centre.
According to the agreed facts,Camilleri was on a supervised walk in the prison yard on March 7,2023 when “words were exchanged” with a group of inmates on the other side of the fence.
A female guard heard the inmates “yelling at the offender to ‘f--- off,we don’t want to speak to you,we know what you did’.”
She saw one of them “attempt to throw water” at Camilleri,who did not follow her instructions to move away.
As the guard put her hand on Camilleri’s shoulder,Camilleri “turned around and lunged at her”.
“Her left hand struck[the guard’s] head,and she appeared to grab at[the guard’s] hair as she was immediately taken to the ground,” the facts state. The attack was captured on the yard’s CCTV.
While being looked over by staff in her cell and sitting on the edge of her bed,Camilleri “appeared to be in a heightened and anxious state” and “suddenly … launched herself at the medical officer with outstretched hands”.
A second guard intervened and attempted to restrain Camilleri,putting herself between the offender and medical officer.
“The offender grabbed hold of[the second guard’s] hair and tore a small handful from her scalp,” the facts state. “During the interaction,[the second guard] is repeatedly heard saying ‘Let go’,as the offender continues to grab her hair.”
Another person was heard saying,“She’s got[the second guard’s] hair”.
Camilleri was restrained until she had calmed down.
The facts state that during both incidents Camilleri asked for someone to call her father,adding that he “did not want to speak to her any more”,and also requested to be transferred back to Silverwater jail.
The second guard told Camilleri she would face assault charges for the attacks “twice in one day”.
Camilleri queried,“Did I pull your hair out?” and said “I think I ripped it out,I’m sorry,I’m frustrated,I needed Dad” and “I didn’t mean to attack you,I’m sorry”.
“The offender gestured to something on her bed and said,‘That’s not my hair,is that yours?’ to which[the second guard] replied,‘It’s mine’,” the facts state.
Camilleri said it was “all due to frustration”.
When she was questioned by police the next day,Camilleri said she had thought one of the female inmates was going to throw “hot boiling water” on her,and that when the first guard “grabbed me by the shirt … that’s what set me off”.
“Because of that,I tried to chuck a swing at her and got dropped to the ground,” she said.
Regarding the attack on the second guard,Camilleri said she had ripped out “bits and pieces” of hair,but “not a great deal”.
A jury previously found Camilleri not guilty of murdering her mother by reason of mental illness but guilty of manslaughter. She successfully appealed against her sentence,which was a maximum of 21 years and seven months,and it was reduced. The Court of Criminal Appeal described the killing as “particularly horrendous”.
“Her behaviour of walking into the street with her mother’s head and dropping it,as well as asking emergency services personnel whether they could reattach it,demonstrated the extent to which the applicant’s conduct was divorced from the real world,” the judgment states.
The District Court last year heard Camilleri met the diagnosis for autism spectrum disorder,obsessive compulsive disorder,post-traumatic stress disorder and an intellectual disability.
She is yet to learn her fate for the latest prison attacks. Her case returns to court next week.
