09-07-2025
Daughter who decapitated her mother before dumping her head outside the family home has her prison sentence REDUCED
A woman who cut her own mother's head off in a frenzied attack will spend less time behind bars following an appeal of her latest sentence for attacking a prison officer.
Jessica Camilleri, 37, was jailed for a minimum 16 years for the brutal murder of her mother Rita Camilleri, 59, in 2019.
The then 30-year-old stabbed her mother more than 100 times before dumping her severed head outside the family home in St Clair in western Sydney.
Camilleri was found guilty of the lesser charge of manslaughter in 2021, owing to 'substantial' mental health issues.
She has since had another 17 months added to her sentence over multiple attacks on prison officers, often by pulling their hair from their scalps.
The court previously heard that Camilleri struggled in isolation and was 'constantly' segregated from other inmates
Camilleri pleaded guilty to common assault in Penrith Local Court last month over the most recent attack at Dillwynia Correctional Centre on March 13 this year.
She recently lodged an appeal against the severity of the six-month sentence with her lawyers requesting it be wholly or substantially concurrent with her existing sentence.
Judge Graham Turnbull upheld the conviction and severity of the latest sentence in Penrith Local Court on Wednesday.
However, it was varied so part of the sentence would be served concurrently with her earlier sentences, Penrith Press reported.
While Judge Turnbull noted that Camilleri's attacks on the officers were 'situational' rather than premeditated, he added it was important to condemn her actions.
Camilleri's most recent sentence was previously due to start in December 2032, but it has been moved four months forward.
It means that she could now be eligible for parole as early as February 2033.
The latest attack unfolded just days after prison sources revealed that Camilleri was terrorising her prison wing and that authorities don't know what to do with her.
'She has become an ongoing problem,' a prison insider told Daily Mail Australia.
Jessica Camilleri remains behind bars at Dillwynia Correctional Centre in Sydney's west
'She has to be monitored at all times because she will use any opportunity to cause harm.
'There has already been time added to her sentence for attacks involving extreme hair pulling.
'She has scalped people with her bare hands and anything can set her off.'
