The gruesome death of Rita Camilleri
Covered in blood from head to toe, Jessica picked up her mother’s head and walked to their neighbor’s home.
She dropped Rita’s head on the pavement on the way.
Jessica knocked on the neighbor’s door and asked him to call the police.
Dispatcher: Hello, what happened?
Neighbor: I don’t know. I was just home. She just came in screaming for help. And she said she had a fight with her mom…
Jessica: In self-defense, I think I killed her.
Dispatcher: Okay, so she believes that she may have killed her mother?
Neighbor: Yeah.
Jessica: I just kept stabbing and stabbing and stabbing her. And I took off her head …I ran to my other neighbor on the other side. And I had my mom’s head in my hand. I know this sounds insane.
Rita Came From Sydney, Australia
Rita Camilleri stayed with her daughter Jessica Camilleri, in Sydney, Australia.
Rita was 57, while Jessica was a 25-year-old woman. Rita noticed that Jessica delayed walking and talking as she grew up. Jessica’s teachers later noticed her delays in reading, writing, and mathematics.
Over the years, Jessica was diagnosed with autism, OCD, depression, and ADHD. Some doctors believed Jessica had schizophrenia.
As a result, Jessica was badly bullied at school, and she struggled to make friends. So, she often retaliated with violence. For instance, she was once suspended for biting a boy and pulling his girlfriend’s hair.
She once attacked a school girl leading to her expulsion.
Jessica was verbally aggressive and also often had conflicts with her family members. She once had a fight with her parents, and after that, she was forced to live with her grandmother.
However, Jessica went on to attack her aunt, leading to her going back to her parents’ home again.
Jessica’s parents later separated, and Jessica stayed with Rita.
Rita supported Jessica and assured her that she would never be institutionalized despite her problematic behavior.
Jessica’s Behavior Became Worse
However, in 2012, Jessica committed a series of assaults.
Jessica reportedly pulled women’s hair on multiple occasions simply because they looked at her in a way she didn’t like. Then Jessica developed a disturbing hobby of calling random numbers with the intent to harass and threaten people.
Jessica threatened to kill strangers by slitting their throats, cutting off their heads, or stabbing them. Rita was unable to stop Jessica from placing these calls.
By June 2018, Jessica’s aggression began to escalate further. She had little to no self-control, lashed out, and acted without thinking about the consequences.
Jessica was diagnosed with intermittent explosive disorder and got a prescription.
By December, Jessica declared that she no longer wanted to take her medication.
Then on July 19th, 2019, Jessica threatened a random man via a call. Rita learned about it and sought help from the police in an attempt to get Jessica to stop.
Rita took Jessica to the station, and an officer gave Jessica a caution warning. Then on July 20th, 2019, a four-year-old boy relative of Rita and Jessica came over to stay with them. Rita provided the four-year-old with more supervision, care, and attention.
That angered Jessica and made her extremely jealous.
Jessica told her mother that she had a severe stomachache and needed a doctor.
The doctor soon arrived, and Jessica was on a call. Jessica remained on her call for more than thirty minutes. The doctor saw it as mockery and left.
Rita Decided Jessica Should Be Institutionalized
Rita then called her eldest daughter and told her that she was worried about Jessica and believed she should be institutionalized.
However, Jessica wasn’t on board with the idea.
Rita then tried calling emergency services to have Jessica taken to a psychiatric hospital. But Jessica approached her and grabbed the phone away from her.
So, Rita went to another room to use a different phone.
Meanwhile, Jessica followed her into the room, knocked her mother to the ground, grabbed her by the hair, and dragged her into the kitchen.
She then opened a drawer, pulled out a knife, sat on top of her mother, and stabbed her in the face, head, and neck multiple times.
Meanwhile, the four-year-old relative heard the commotion and came running. The boy tried to jump on Jessica, took the lid of a toy box, and struck her over the head.
But Jessica pushed the child away and slashed his face from his ear to his cheek.
The child retreated.
He also began to vomit due to the horrific scene he had just witnessed.
By that time, Jessica had used great force in stabbing her mother to the extent that she had broken more than four knives.
Jessica has stabbed her mother in the face and head over 100 times.
Then she took another knife and used it to decapitate Rita’s head. Jessica then twisted and pulled until Rita’s head became fully detached.
Jessica Sought Help From A Neighbor
Covered in blood from head to toe, Jessica picked up her mother’s head and walked to their neighbor’s home.
On the way to the neighbor, She dropped Rita’s head.
Jessica knocked on one neighbor’s door and asked them to call the emergency services for her.
Then she turned to another neighbor’s home and called the police.
The police arrived on the scene and found Jessica standing outside in a night dress completely covered in blood.
Jessica told the police that her mother had tried to kill her with a knife, so she acted in self-defense. However, Jessica had no physical injuries.
The police inspected the scene and found the four-year-old hidden in the living room.
He was taken to hospital and underwent surgery for the cut on his cheek. The boy also underwent treatment for severe psychological damage.
The police found Rita’s lifeless body in the kitchen. Her head was found outside of her home.
The investigators examined the crime scene and concluded that Jessica was lying. Jessica was the aggressor the entire time, not Rita.
The police discovered that Jessica had sliced off the tip of Rita’s nose and used a knife to pluck out her eyes.
Jessica had held one of the eyes in her hand and squeezed it.
The Police Arrested Jessica
Jessica was arrested and charged with her mother’s murder.
Jessica’s defense team brought up the various mental disorders that would have impaired Jessica’s ability to control her anger and emotions.
However, a psychiatrist revealed that Jessica knew right from wrong.
The jury was convinced that Jessica’s judgment was impaired by her mental conditions.
She was found guilty of manslaughter and not murder. Jessica was sentenced to 21 years and seven months behind bars.
In September 2022, Jessica appealed her sentence, and the answer is yet to be determined.
Rita’s unconditional love for Jessica was remarkable.
Sadly she was blindsided and couldn’t see Jessica’s true colors. In the end, Rita lost her life at the hands of her own daughter.
Sources: Rita Camilleri, Disturban, Irishmirror