WARNING DISTRESSING CONTENT: Jessica Camilleri, who killed and mutilated her own mother over a takeaway order, has continued her disturbing behaviour behind bars, even making sick threats to fellow inmates
A woman who decapitated her own mother following a row over a takeaway order has issued a disturbing warning to her fellow inmates. On the night of July 20, 2019, Jessica Camilleri got into a disagreement with her mum, Rita Camilleri, after Rita ordered chicken from Red Rooster for her dinner, only for her daughter to complain that she was still hungry and wanted to order a second meal.
Things then escalated when Rita, 57, went into Camilleri’s room to take away her mobile phone. A full-time carer, Rita had previously had to confiscate the then 25-year-old’s phone after she made obsessive calls to the owner of a local butcher’s, even threatening to stab and decapitate members of staff.
What happened next would horrify those in the quiet western Sydney suburb Camilleri once called home. The killer told forensic psychiatrist Professor David Greenberg: “Mum was slapping me. She grabbed me by the hair. I grabbed Mum. I dragged Mum all the way to the kitchen by the hair.
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“I saw red. I remember pulling the knife. I wanted to scare her at first. Mum… got the knife off me and chucked it away. I was so agitated, I lost it. I was stabbing her… I was so angry. I remember stabbing my mum, I wouldn’t stop, was getting her everywhere. I was getting the adrenaline going. I think I had sick thoughts, I got off horror movies. I got the idea to cut her head off from the movies… Texas Chainsaw Massacre, Jeepers Creepers and Saw. I thought it might relieve her pain.”
Now, six and a half years after her blood-curdling crime, Camilleri appears to show no remorse over her shocking past, even threatening fellow inmates behind the bars of Silverwater Maximum Security Correctional Complex, one of the most notorious women’s prisons in Australia. As reported by the Mail Online, Camilleri, who complains she is “bullied” in prison because of what she did, “boasts” about killing her mum to other prisoners, threatening to behead them in the same way “if they p*** her off”, an officer has revealed.
During her time in prison, Camilleri has terrorised officers as well as inmates, and may now serve more time behind bars following her latest assaults. These two incidents, which were caught on camera, occurred in May 2025 and saw Camilleri tear hair from the scalps of officers, who were left traumatised by the attack.
Camilleri will now appear in court on February 17 for sentencing on one count of assault occasioning actual bodily harm of a fellow inmate, as well as two offences of assaulting prison officers in May 2025. Back in 2021, following a previous attack on prison staff, Camilleri attempted to portray herself as the victim, telling one officer: “I just wanted to give [her] a little bit of the taste of [her] own medicine for the s*** they’ve been doing to me… since I’ve been here.”
Camilleri was charged with manslaughter rather than murder in 2020, after arguing she’d been impaired by multiple mental disorders, and was initially sentenced to 21 years and seven months imprisonment. This was then reduced to 16 years and six months on appeal, meaning she will be eligible for parole in July 2031. However, given her subsequent violent behaviour, it’s believed she could now serve more time behind bars following next month’s sentencing.
Even among Silverwater inmates, Camilleri’s crimes make for particularly appalling reading. The horror movie-obsessed killer, now 31, cut out her mother’s tongue and eyes in the attack. In a call made to emergency services herself, Camilleri said: “Mum has had enough of me. In self-defence, I think I killed her. I was so heated up with anger, I just kept stabbing and stabbing and stabbing her, and I took off her head. I ran to my neighbour. I had my mum’s head in my hand, I know this sounds insane…’
When officers arrived at the gruesome scene, they discovered Camilleri covered in blood, while eerie police cam footage shows the warped killer discussing the whereabouts of her mother’s remains, while enquiring if there was any chance she could be brought back to life. She told officers: “Mum’s head is on the path. Half her nose fell off in the struggle. Can you bring someone back to life if they don’t have a head? ‘Cause I know doctors can do miracles – they can’t re-sew her head?”
Do you have a story to share? Email me at julia.banim@reachplc.com
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