An Australian mother was stabbed to death and beheaded by her daughter, whom she suspected was possessed by a demon, prosecutors told a Sydney court this week.
Rita Camilleri, 57, paid 2,500 Australian dollars ($1,840) to a medium to perform an exorcism on her daughter Jessica, who was aged 25 at the time, according to news.com.au. Jessica admitted to stabbing her mother more than 100 times, but is pleading not guilty by reason of insanity, news.com.au reports.
Australian mom allegedly stabbed 100 times, beheaded by ‘demon’ daughter https://t.co/x7j2Q01pHr pic.twitter.com/YLJGuH0ldx
— New York Post (@nypost) December 1, 2020
The mother’s decapitated head was found on a footpath near their home, and other body parts were dismembered and lying inside the house, reports news.com.au. The younger Camilleri was a big fan of violent horror movies such as Texas Chainsaw Massacre, witnesses told the Australian court. (RELATED: REPORT: Man Fatally Stabbed In Alleged Dispute Over Thanksgiving Leftover Etiquette)
After the attack, Jessica is said to have called the police and claimed the incident was an act of self-defense, according to law enforcement. She later went on to say in a police interview that the stabbing was the result of an argument and that she wanted to give her mother a “taste of her own medicine.”
The killer had a history of threatening and harassing family members and strangers, including threatening to behead people over the phone, according to news.com.au. Her legal defense claims that she suffers from multiple mental illnesses that impaired her judgement to a point that she cannot be held responsible for the act, news.com.au reports. (RELATED: REPORT: Man In His Seventies Struggles With Home Invader, Shot In The Face, Expected To Live)
The now-27-year-old Camilleri suffers from dyslexia, attention deficit disorder, and an intellectual disability, her sister told the court. Jessica’s discipline was primarily the responsibility of her father, who was no longer living with the family at the time of the stabbing, according to news.com.au. The aforementioned exorcism was reportedly never attempted.