Angelrat
Former Member
Woman who cooked victim appeals sentence
Wednesday Jun 28 16:53 AEST
Abattoir worker Katherine Knight stabbed her de facto husband 37 times, skinned him and baked his buttocks with vegetables as a meal for his children.
But the NSW Court of Criminal Appeal has been told that the killing of John Price was not in the worst category of murder, and that the life sentence handed to Knight was too harsh.
Knight pleaded guilty to murdering Mr Price at the home they shared at Aberdeen, in the NSW Hunter Valley.
She has now appealed against the sentence imposed in 2001 by Supreme Court judge, Justice Barry O'Keefe, who jailed her for life, never to be released.
The crown opposed her appeal, with Deputy Director of Public Prosecutions Greg Smith SC saying the case "has features of barbarism" unheard of in NSW.
Police found Mr Price's headless body on March 1, 2000.
Bloodstains showed the 44-year-old had tried to escape from the house, but was dragged back inside.
His skin was hanging from a meathook in the loungeroom, his head was cooking in a "sickening stew" on the stove and slices of his buttocks were served as "gruesome steaks" for Mr Price's children, Justice O'Keefe said.
Knight, a 50-year-old mother of four, sat stony-faced in court during the appeal, wearing a simple black suit with a large crucifix around her neck.
Arguing her sentence was excessive, Knight's barrister, John Stratton SC, said she was the only woman in Australia jailed for life without hope of parole.
The thing that distinguished Mr Price's murder from other domestic killings was the mutilation of his body, he told appeal judges Peter McClellan, Michael Adams and Megan Latham.
But as "ghastly" as this was, it did not elevate it into the worst class of murders deserving life sentences, Mr Stratton said.
However, Justice Adams said psychiatric evidence suggested Knight "got some pleasure out of the mutilation, and that was very troubling".
"There are crimes so wicked for which only a life sentence is appropriate and where there ought to be no prospect of release," Justice Adams said.
Mr Stratton said the sentence took a "one-sided view" of Knight's violence towards her previous partners, ignoring evidence that they had subjected her to violent assaults.
He disputed that the murder was premeditated, saying Knight was angry because Mr Price wanted to end their relationship and committed "a crime of passion".
He also said Knight's borderline personality disorder should have been taken into account.
However, Mr Smith said the disorder played no role in the killing, which was motivated by Knight's desire for revenge and her "vindictive, violent" nature.
She had boasted months in advance that she would kill Mr Price and feign madness to get away with it, showing "a coolness of planning".
Mr Smith argued that she was like a professional killer, drawing on her experience as a meat slicer and treating the body almost "as a trophy".
The court reserved its decision for a date to be fixed.
©AAP 2006
Wednesday Jun 28 16:53 AEST
Abattoir worker Katherine Knight stabbed her de facto husband 37 times, skinned him and baked his buttocks with vegetables as a meal for his children.
But the NSW Court of Criminal Appeal has been told that the killing of John Price was not in the worst category of murder, and that the life sentence handed to Knight was too harsh.
Knight pleaded guilty to murdering Mr Price at the home they shared at Aberdeen, in the NSW Hunter Valley.
She has now appealed against the sentence imposed in 2001 by Supreme Court judge, Justice Barry O'Keefe, who jailed her for life, never to be released.
The crown opposed her appeal, with Deputy Director of Public Prosecutions Greg Smith SC saying the case "has features of barbarism" unheard of in NSW.
Police found Mr Price's headless body on March 1, 2000.
Bloodstains showed the 44-year-old had tried to escape from the house, but was dragged back inside.
His skin was hanging from a meathook in the loungeroom, his head was cooking in a "sickening stew" on the stove and slices of his buttocks were served as "gruesome steaks" for Mr Price's children, Justice O'Keefe said.
Knight, a 50-year-old mother of four, sat stony-faced in court during the appeal, wearing a simple black suit with a large crucifix around her neck.
Arguing her sentence was excessive, Knight's barrister, John Stratton SC, said she was the only woman in Australia jailed for life without hope of parole.
The thing that distinguished Mr Price's murder from other domestic killings was the mutilation of his body, he told appeal judges Peter McClellan, Michael Adams and Megan Latham.
But as "ghastly" as this was, it did not elevate it into the worst class of murders deserving life sentences, Mr Stratton said.
However, Justice Adams said psychiatric evidence suggested Knight "got some pleasure out of the mutilation, and that was very troubling".
"There are crimes so wicked for which only a life sentence is appropriate and where there ought to be no prospect of release," Justice Adams said.
Mr Stratton said the sentence took a "one-sided view" of Knight's violence towards her previous partners, ignoring evidence that they had subjected her to violent assaults.
He disputed that the murder was premeditated, saying Knight was angry because Mr Price wanted to end their relationship and committed "a crime of passion".
He also said Knight's borderline personality disorder should have been taken into account.
However, Mr Smith said the disorder played no role in the killing, which was motivated by Knight's desire for revenge and her "vindictive, violent" nature.
She had boasted months in advance that she would kill Mr Price and feign madness to get away with it, showing "a coolness of planning".
Mr Smith argued that she was like a professional killer, drawing on her experience as a meat slicer and treating the body almost "as a trophy".
The court reserved its decision for a date to be fixed.
©AAP 2006
