Case Profile Katherine Knight - Case study assignment PDF

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Case profile of Katherine Knight for the case study assignment...

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Case study profile: Katherine Knight Background: Katherine Knight was born in Tenterfield, New South Wales, on October 24, 1955. Her mother was Barbara Roughan and her father was Ken Knight. Barbara and Ken were having an affair and Katherine was a child of the scandalous affair. Barbara left her four other children and moved in with Ken. He was a violent alcoholic who would sexually assault Barbara several times a day, she shared the intimidate details with her children, including Katherine. Katherine herself was a victim of sexual abuse at the hands of various family members. This abuse occurred up until the age of 11. In high school, Katherine mainly kept to herself. She was seen as a loner who on occasion would bully smaller classmates. She even assaulted a boy at school with a weapon. When not in a homicidal rage, Katherine was found to be quite pleasant. She left school at the age of 15, she never learned to read or right and worked in a factory as a clothing cutter, before landing her dream job cutting up animals in an abattoir. Katherine had a series of toxic relationships, which included physical violence and threats of harm where Katherine was the aggressor. She threatened her partners, attempted to strangle her new husband one night after intercourse, burned their clothes, showed jealousy and was known to assault them with frying pans. She decorated her house with paraphernalia such as animal skins and machettes. Katherine’s mother said warned ‘she will kill you, she has a screw loose’. Katherine suffered post-natal depression and was diagnosed with borderline personality disorder. On one occasion she was sectioned after placing her baby on train tracks and threatening anyone who approached her with an axe. Upon release she was return to the care of her husband and returned to work, however she injured her back and was on disability. Her last partner was John Price, he was aware of Katherine’s reputation, however moved in with her in 1995. Four years later they fought as Price refused to marry her, so she retaliated and had him fired from his job as she fabricated a story he was stealing from the company. He then kicked her out of his home, however they continued the relationship. Murder: On the 29th February 2000, Price told colleagues if he didn’t show up for work the next day it was because Katherine had killed him. Price spent the evening at a neighbor’s house before returning home around 11 pm to go to bed. Katherine was not there, she went back to her house as she no longer lived with Price. Katherine returned to Price’s house while he was sleeping, watched some television then took a shower. Afterward, she woke Price up for sex after which he fell asleep. Police arrived around 8 am the following morning after colleagues were concerned for his welfare and broke down the back door to Price’s home. They found Price’s body and Katherine who was unresponsive due to an overdose of pills. Katherine had stabbed Price in the chest with a butcher knife while he was asleep. Blood evidence in the home suggested that Price woke up when stabbed. He ran out of the room into the hallway with Katherine giving chase and repeatedly stabbing him. Price had apparently made it to the front door and was able to open it. He was either dragged back inside or he stumbled back. Price was stabbed 37 times in the front/back of his body. He bled out due to his injuries and after a few hours she proceeded to skin him and decapitate him. The job was done with such precision, in the postmortem examination the skin was able to be re-sown onto his body. She hung the skin from a meat 1

hook above a door frame. Katherine also went to the local ATM And withdrew $1000 out of Price’s account. After she skinned him, she cooked up a part of his buttocks and she sliced it off. She prepared an entire meal of baked potatoes, pumpkin, zucchini, cabbage, yellow squash, and gravy. She set the table along with place cards made out to each of Price’s children with notes that were vindictive in nature. She then posed his body; she draped his left arm over an empty soda bottle with his legs crossed. Authorities found a note that Katherine had written which she placed on top of a photograph of Price. Katherine wanted to plead, but only to a manslaughter charge. On February 2, 2001, Katherine Knight was charged with murder. She pleaded not guilty. She was the first woman in Australian history to be sentenced to life imprisonment without parole.

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