St Clair woman Jessica Camilleri who decapitated mother complains about prison life

A woman who was jailed after decapitating her mother and stabbing her head and face 100 times is finding it hard to cope with prison life and attacked an inmate because she thought she was being bullied, a court has heard.  

Jessica Camilleri is being held at the Silverwater Correctional Centre, in western Sydney, after killing her mother Rita on July 19, 2019.

Camilleri used seven kitchen knives in the attack, four of which broke due to force, before taking her mother’s head outside their St Clair home and placing it on a footpath. 

She was found guilty of manslaughter and ordered to serve 21 years in jail where she is being monitored closely by prison officials.

Camilleri has since fronted court again after she was charged with assaulting an inmate, claiming she has been the victim of constant bullying, Daily Telegraph reported.

Jessica Camilleri (pictured) is being held at the Silverwater Correctional Centre, in western Sydney, after killing her mother Rita on July 19, 2019 

Camilleri used seven kitchen knives in the attack (pictured, Camilleri’s mother Rita), four of which broke due to force, before taking her mother’s head outside their St Clair home and placing it on a footpath

She appeared via video link at Burwood Local Court on Thursday where she claimed she was being told to ‘watch her back’ by inmates who were making life a ‘living hell’.  

‘They single me out in prison because of the nature of my crime,’ she said.

‘No matter what I do, no matter where I go other prisoners will make my life a living hell.’   

Court documents state Camilleri, who says she suffers from bulimia, told police she believed the inmate was making fun of her eating disorder.

Camilleri approached the inmate in the recreation room and told her she was still hungry, according to the documents.

‘Who should I ask for more food?’ Camilleri said.

‘I don’t know who to ask, haven’t you had enough food already?’ the inmate said.

Camilleri believed the inmate was conspiring with others to attack her and walked behind her, pulled her by the hair and then ‘vaulted’ her, the documents state. 

She told the court life in prison was ‘hard’ and that correctional officers ‘can’t protect you.’

‘Sometimes, and I hate to say it in this courtroom, but other prisoners have been murdered by other prisoners in jail, that’s how it is in jail,’ she said.

Camilleri has since fronted court again after she was charged with assaulting an inmate at Silverwater Correctional Centre

She was found guilty of manslaughter and ordered to serve 21-years in jail where she is being monitored closely by prison officials (pictured, a crime scene was established following the incident in 2019) 

Magistrate Sharon Freund convicted Camilleri of common assault. 

During Camilleri’s trial, following the attack on her mum, the court heard the defendant had an obsession with horror films, owning eight copies of Texas Chainsaw Massacre and five of Jeepers Creepers, which she watched ‘over and over again’.

Two forensic psychiatrists had told the trial the frenzied knife attack was prompted by an intellectual disability and autism spectrum disorder that features a fixation on horror films, though only one attributed the loss of control to the mixture of those conditions.

The other expert said an intermittent explosive disorder had a significant role to play.