[DiamondSmiles]

*A friend of mine from Australia recommended I look up Katherine. She may have been the first know Australian sentenced to life without parole. I am still researching. It was hard to find a picture of her. Not at all what I expected! This appears to be part of her appeal for the murder and cannibalism of her husband, John Charles Thomas Price.*

About Skinning Your Husband and Cooking His Head...November 19th 2006

Katherine Knight and John Price"[1] Katherine Mary Knight (the prisoner) was arraigned on 2 February, 2001 on a charge of having murdered John Charles Thomas Price (Mr Price) at Aberdeen in the State of New South Wales on or about 29 February 2000...

[8] The post mortem examination revealed that Mr Price had been stabbed at least 37 times in various parts of both the front and back of his body...

[9] Many of the wounds were deep, and extended into vital organs. These included the aorta, both lungs, the liver, the stomach, the descending colon, the pancreas, and the left kidney, the lower pole of which had virtually been sliced off.

[10] The wounds inflicted on Mr Price and the injuries which they caused resulted in the loss of a great deal of blood. This was found splattered and smeared throughout various parts of the house and in a pool, which was quite deep, and measured 1 metre x 2 metres. This pool was in the hallway of Mr Price’s home...

[14] After he had been dead for some time his body was dragged by the prisoner from the hallway into the lounge room...

[16] Thereafter the prisoner, who had for many years worked as a meat slicer in abattoirs, skinned Mr. Price’s body. This was carried out with considerable expertise and an obviously steady hand so that his skin, including that of the head, face, nose, ears, neck, torso, genital organs and legs, was removed so as to form one pelt. So expertly was it done that, after the post mortem examination, the skin was able to be re-sown onto Mr Price’s body in a way which indicated a clear and appropriate, albeit grizzly, methodology...

[17] At some time after, Mr Price had been skinned the prisoner hung his pelt on a meat hook on the architrave of the door of the lounge room, where it remained until it was later removed by investigating police...

[18] ... [A]t some time between the time when the body was moved into the lounge room and skinned and about a time before 7.30 a.m. on 1 March 2000 the prisoner decapitated Mr Price’s body and at some stage arranged it with the left arm draped over an empty soft drink bottle, and the legs crossed. This was said in evidence to be an act of defilement demonstrating contempt for Mr Price’s remains.

[19] The evidence of the Medical Examiner establishes that the decapitation was effected at the C3/C4 junction and was done with a very sharp knife. The removal was clean and left an incised type wound. To remove Mr Price’s head in such a way required skill, which was consistent with the skills acquired by the prisoner in the course of her work as a meat slicer. It also required a steady hand at the relevant time.

[20] Not only was Mr Price’s head removed but parts of his buttocks were also sliced off. The excised parts of Mr Price were then taken by the prisoner to the kitchen and at some stage, after she had peeled and prepared various vegetables, she cooked Mr Price’s head in a large pot together with a number of the vegetables she had prepared so as to produce a sickening stew. The contents of the pot were still warm, estimated to be at between 40 and 50 degrees centigrade, when examined by police during the mid-morning of 1 March 2000...

[21] The pieces which had been cut from Mr Price’s buttocks were baked in the oven of the premises by the prisoner together with other of the vegetables she had peeled. The gruesome steaks were then arranged on plates together with the vegetables which she had baked and left as meals for the son and daughter of the deceased, accompanied by vindictive notes to each in the handwriting of the prisoner. A third piece was thrown on the back lawn, whether for consumption by dogs or for some other purpose is not revealed in the evidence...

[26] The circumstances of and surrounding the killing of Mr Price can thus be seen to be horrendous. Indeed they go far beyond the experience of any of the professional people, including experienced psychiatrists, that were involved in the case. A number of police officers who were highly experienced in examining crime scenes found the need to take stress leave because of the situation with which they were confronted when examining the crime scene at Mr Price’s house. Objectively the circumstances mark the killing and its accompanying incidents as being of the most gruesome kind, the murder as being in the most serious category of that crime."


***

This article uses an image from the AAP article "Husband cooker loses plea", published in the Sydney Morning Herald on 11 September 2006.

The text is from the reasons for judgment of O'Keefe J: R v Knight [2001] NSWSC 1011 (8 November 2001).

The case was appealed: Knight v R [2006] NSWCCA 292 (11 September 2006).

More information about the whole affair is available from Peter Lalor's Blood Stain (Allen and Unwin, 2005). It's rather sensationalistic, but it'll give you a more accurate picture than you'll get from the media in general. Among other things, it has information about: Knight's history, the milieu in which she moved, the behind-the-scenes of gathering evidence, the reactions of neighbours...


From another source

In the early hours of the 29th of February 2000, Katherine Knight a mother of 4 cold bloodily killed her de facto husband John “Pricey” Price, in what has to be one of Australia’s most horrific murders.It all started when Knight sent the children away for a overnight stay at a friends house. Now by herself Knight went and got a long boning knife and a sharpening steel, she then began sharpening the knife until it was sharp enough to cut through bone. A couple of hours later the victim John Price came home after a hard days work, he was told by Knight that the kids were sleeping out and that they had the whole night to themselves. At around 11pm Knight and Price decided to have sex, after they finished John Price dozed off and Katherine Knight went and got the boning knife. John Price woke in horror to find Knight screaming and stabbing ferociously at him, with multiple stab wounds to his body John Price lept out of bed and made a desperate dash to escape, with Knight running right behind still stabbing him in the back, Price made it to the front door “opened it” then collapsed in a large pool of blood.

John “Pricey” Price’s post mortem (Autopsy) revealed that Mr Price had been stabbed in the front and back of his body at least 37 times and many piercing vital organs..these including the stomach, both lungs, the aorta, liver, left kidney, the descending colon and the pancreas..
Now that’s a evil thing for a lady to do “right”?
Well for “Katherine Mary Knight” the fun had just begun …

A long while after Mr Price had died, Evil Knight dragged his body through the hallway to the lounge room where she proceeded to skin him, using skills learnt as a meat worker at an abattoir. She skinned Price with great skill removing his head, face, ears, nose, neck, torso, genital organs and legs all in one piece, only a bit of skin and flesh in the middle of his chest was left.. A little while after John Price was skinned Katherine picked up the pelt (the skin) with everything still intact and hung it on a meat hook which was on the lounge room door!

You must be now thinking YEP.. You couldnt get much more evil that !!

Well Yes you can!

Read On

After Knight hung Price’s body, she proceeded to the kitchen to prepare a large pot of stew with a variety of vegetables, she then went back into the lounge room where Price’s body was and with great expertize began to slice off Price’s head. She then took it back to the kitchen and placed it in the pot. While this was left to cook slowly she cut three slices of flesh from his buttocks to roast in the oven. All this was in preperation for the nights evening meal with Price’s son and daughter. When finished cooking Katherine Knight served it out accompanied with a horrifying note to each of his children. The third steak was found on the back lawn, coming to the conclusion that either Knight herself had tried to consume it and freaked out or she threw it out for her dogs.. Luckily all this was found by Police before his children returned home for dinner..

Sentencing

Katherine Knight became Australia’s first woman to be sentenced to life without parole. In handing down her sentence, Justice Barry O’Keefe described her crime as premeditated and horrific, “evil actions“ that indicated cognition, volition, calm and skill.

Monday, 11th September 2006

The NSW Court of Criminal Appeal on Monday rejected Knight’s appeal against the sentence, which she claimed was manifestly excessive. This was such an appalling crime almost beyond contemplation in a civilized society,” Justice Peter McClellan said in his written judgment. The psychiatric evidence indicates that her personality is unlikely to change in the future and, if released, she would be likely to inflict serious injury or perhaps death on others, Justice McClellan said.



Ah, but, John wasn't her first kill. Wikipedia has a very informative link here
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Katherine_Knight

Also, trutv.com, who features some of our other favorite cannibals, like Ed Gein and Gary Heidnik
http://www.trutv.com/library/crime/n...ght/index.html

[THELORDABORTION]

In want to see the crime scene photos o3o

[Beckaleigh83]

Currently listening to a podcast about her now. They said that the jury pool and police needed counseling after this case. Journalists in Australia didn't want to write about her because it was so gruesome.

[RetireeGeorge]

One of the police bumped into the pelt in the darkness.

Pelt is a word that stays with you after this.

[shadowplay]

I read about this today, would also love to see the crime scene photos. I'd also like to know how her children survived her psychosis & how they're doing.

[Dragon87]

I just watched a documentary about her on the Documentary Heaven website. She is the first woman in the history of Australia to be sentenced to life without parole. She's a complete nut job.

[LilCurious]

She slit the throat of a puppy before this. That alone constitutes the death penalty in my book. What she did to that man is vile beyond words. No torture or painful, agonizing death would have been good enough for her. I hope other prison lifers inflict endless pain on her and that she is met with the true justice this court did not deliver.

[William May]

I understand she has absolutely no problem swallowing a cock.

And she is eager for conjugal visitors.

[houseoftechno]

I hate cruelty and suffering of all kinds. But I am not offended by what one does with a corpse. She obviously had expert vocational skills and tools for skinning dead mammals.

Cannibalism is another "so what" thing for me. People eat meat every day. I don't particularly like the taste of meat, so hey, better you than me, Ms. Knight.

[Trucked up]

I want to see the real crime scene as well.