About skinning your husband and cooking his head...
November 19th 2006 03:52
Katherine Knight and John Price
[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 judgement 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...
| 197 |
| Vote |
Add To: 
Subscribe to this blog
Comment by katyzzz
Photography Tips
Health Focus
Poetry Lighthouse
MS Paint Art
Did we really need this?
katyzzz
Comment by Damo
For the Sake of Argument
My Apologetics
Comment by Adrian
Philosophy Blog
Dear Katy -- well, my main interest is in why, exactly, this was considered to fall in the worst case category of crime. What makes an atrocity an atrocity? I'll post a discussion of this soonish...
Comment by Australis
The Scriptwriting Blog
Personal Blog - A Writer's Life
To do something like that to his children is cruel beyond any kind of moral understanfing.
And that, to lay down a starting point for your discussion, is what an atrocity is - cruelty untempered by any human feeling, any humanity.
Comment by The Voices in my Head
The Voices in my Head
*stifling a giggle* This was very *giggle...err uhhh cough cough* very disturbing.
I have no idea why, but this has struck me as very funny. I need Bryn. When Bryn sees this, he will agree with me.
I mean, it is horrible. I don't know what else to say. A STEW?? I don't find it appropriate. I just find it sort of funny. I think it was the way it was written. God help me, am I the only one that thinks this post was really funny??
Adrian, I loved the title. It's your fault. Everyone will think I am bonkers now, you know. And Damos. His comment made me giggle inappropriately, too. I feel like I am in the middle of a wedding and giggling because the bride is wearing white when all of us know that white is a bit of a lie.
Voices~
Comment by Ash
Australian Traveller
Flashes of memories
Bring back the days when showing ankles was considered as distasteful.
Where will it all end?
Ash
Comment by David my David
Do we really need comments like katyzzz's?
I don't think so ...
I'd prefer to live without them ...
They're so puritannical ...
But that's my personal opinion (and Orble is a site where we are allowed to express our personal opinions, isn't it?) ...
And so, she keeps posting her puritannical opnions. Why? In the hope that others will visit her site and increase her vote count? So she can make $$$ money from blogging? Or get everyone to like her? I'm not sure. I'm not even sure that she knows herself. So what chance have I got? I only know that in my personal opinion, puritans annoy me. They coat their underbelly with sugary corsets.
Keep posting posts about the depravity of human nature ...
Eventually, even the puritannical will realise that they are more morally depraved than murderers ...
David ...
Comment by Joe Blogg
Joe Blogg's Blog
manchesterunited
collingwoodfootballclub
I'm no marraige counsellor but do you think they were having problems in their relationship?
I bet it was because he always hogged the remote for the tv & kept changing channels during the ads.
Comment by Adrian
Philosophy Blog
Australis -- two general points in response.
I suppose the first thing to say is that there's a question over whether to call this an "atrocity" at all. What is the difference between "atrocity" and "really really bad"? And is what Katherine Knight did comparable to massacres or torture, or is it in a lesser league? After all, most of the carving happened after the guy was dead; and the children (adult children, incidentally) didn't in fact discover their dinner (and I'm not sure if they even lived in the same house); and if they had discovered it, and if they'd actually eaten anything, would the likelihood of psychological damage necessarily make the act an atrocity? For instance, would there be enough likely damage? How would it compare, for instance, with the post-traumatic stress disorder of soldiers who see friends splattered in front of them?
I know this probably seems like splitting hairs (and it is splitting hairs), but I do think there's nothing wrong with asking the question, What exactly makes something an atrocity? If Knight's actions are an example, what can one generalize from them? What exactly about psychological damage, or what degree of psychological damage, can make something an atrocity? And this is both a linguistic and a psychological matter.
Secondly, I think the main suggestion in your comment is that an atrocity represents something cruel beyond understanding. And I'd agree (though I'd want to be more precise about the formulation). The whole tone of your post suggests that there is something about the incident that leaves you speechless. Something unimaginable. It might be the case, for instance, that what she did to the body or the children was a striking violation of norms that you/society take for granted. Perhaps something that one might think it is psychologically impossible to bring oneself to do.
(Though I also think that if it were true that she's insane, that somehow makes her acts less atrocious.)
Well, regarding this, I'd want to argue that perhaps part of what's disturbing is that we might see in ourselves the capacity to do what Knight did. Are her actions really that inexplicable or incomprehensible, "beyond moral understanding"? And is it possible to be both a humane, moral person, and a vicious murderer?
Dear Voices -- I'm glad you wrote that. Thank you for daring to be honest.
I think death and laughter, and horror and humour, are intimately related.
People sometimes laugh at funerals -- at the same time as grieving; and I'm told that, in some cultures, it's not abnormal to laugh at accidents, out of the shock of them.
In Buffy, the horrible is often converted into the comic. Big scary monster sits down with you and has a totally-out-of-visual-character chat.
Dear Ash -- it's probably true that we're less shocked by representations of violence or sex. But here's four points in reply.
Firstly, I don't think it's obvious that our reactions to the media fully translate to our reactions to real life. If you see someone struck on film, it's less confronting than seeing someone struck on stage. And blood in real life is more real than movie blood.
Secondly, I don't think that our standards of appropriate conduct necessarily depend on our capacity for shock. We may be more accustomed to depictions of rape, but, as a society, we treat rape with more seriousness than we used to.
Thirdly, exposure can result in hypersensitization as well as desensitization. People allergic to grass tend to have developed the condition in the country, and people allergic to dust mites tend to be brought up in the city. Doctors surrounded by pain can become more compassionate as well as less compassionate. Art can show you the interior as well as the exterior.
Lastly, is desensitization necessarily a bad thing? Why is it bad, for instance, to look on a naked body with indifference rather than conscious of breaking taboos?
Dear David -- I'm probably going to write about other matters now, so I hope you won't be too disappointed if there's a deficiency of depravity in my posts, though I do hope there'll be an increase in yours.
Yeah, I doubt anyone's going to make money from Orble. Cibby, who's been doing it for about 6 months, told me he's earning $50 a week, but I reckon that with the time one puts in, a job at Maccas would make more economic sense.
Katy, if you're reading this, I have to admit that your comments often feel vote-hungry; and I think you'd probably admit that they are. It surprises me that David has already noticed. But, hey, I'm still grateful for them, and one needn't assume that they're wholly insincere or self-serving.
Dear Joe Blogg -- thanks for the drop in! Just to clarify, they were de-facto husband and wife, and she had a long and scary history of violence towards her previous partners (if anyone is pruriently interested, check out this link), but one of the main reasons for the murder seems to have been that the deceased assaulted her the Sunday before.
Comment by Joe Blogg
Joe Blogg's Blog
manchesterunited
collingwoodfootballclub
Comment by Milly
Travel Adventures
The questioning mind
Comment by Bryn
Horrorphile
Comment by Adrian
Philosophy Blog
But my impression is that:
-- the kids are in their late thirties, and are from a previous marriage. I get the impression that they weren't about to come home at all (that they didn't live in the house).
-- immediately following her mutilation of the body, Katherine Knight took a large quantity of pills, then admitted herself to hospital, and claimed amnesia. I get the impression that the judge thought this was a fake suicide attempt, and that the mutilation itself was an attempt to prepare for an insanity defence. It's not clear to me at what point the body was discovered, but presumably there would have been attempts to contact Knight's next of kin after she admitted herself, and presumably people would have noticed that John Price was missing.
Comment by Adrian
Philosophy Blog
And there's also some laws (I'm not familiar with them) about criminals profitting from proceeds of crime.
Are you in a scriptwriting mood, Bryn?
Comment by Joe Blogg
Joe Blogg's Blog
manchesterunited
collingwoodfootballclub
Comment by Bryn
Horrorphile
Comment by Lilla
Enviro Warrior
An Extra Ordinary Life
Dream Herald
*I just got here*... how absolutely bizarre! I think there was some major past life stuff to sort through here...*lol*...
Adrian, did you not sleep well last night?
Comment by Bryn
Horrorphile
while you're here, I had a dream where i lost a tooth, one of my incisors .... what does losing teeth mean?
Comment by Ash
Australian Traveller
Flashes of memories
Good points. I just think that the more that we are exposed to and the more acceptable everything becomes it`s making us emotionless beings. Do you really want kids to be watching videos of bodies being piled into mass graves or for that matter reading of cases like this and just skimming over it with a 'whatever' attitude? It saddens me to think that my kids will grow up in a world like that. Or perhaps in true female style I am just WAY too much in touch with my emotional side
Ash
Comment by Bryn
Horrorphile
I think you should come visit my blog Pleasure of Nightmares some time .... (wink wink, nudge nudge)
Comment by Lilla
Enviro Warrior
An Extra Ordinary Life
Dream Herald
not the most appropriate place... but I'm sure Adrian won't mind us adding interest to his commentary...
Teeth seem in dreams stands for aggressive sexuality. To see them falling out easily symbolises that we are going through some form of transition.. e.g. from childhood to maturity, or from maturity to old age and helplessness… [lovelly stuff – worse than Adrian’s article] *lol* If there was fear in the dream about the tooth[teeth] falling out then it signifies a dread of maturing. In a woman’s dream [if the tooth is swallowed] it often signifies pregnancy…*lol*
Cheers,
Lilla...
Comment by Lilla
Enviro Warrior
An Extra Ordinary Life
Dream Herald
My husband says the guy should have gone for the divorce option...
Lilla...
Comment by Ash
Australian Traveller
Flashes of memories
Where I come from dreaming of teeth falling out is a pre-warning of bad health - nothing necessarily bad, but just a warning to take better care of your body.
Ash
Comment by Bryn
Horrorphile
all I can say is "hmmmmm ...."
Excuse the teeth talk on this post Adrian ... although perversly applicable as well ....
Comment by Anonymous
So basically what your dream is telling you is that at 65 you will be into bondage, terrified of retirement and need to look after your elbows as they will begin to deteriorate rapidly after all those years of whipping and trying to break free of your bed retstraints.
Ash
(PS beware of who you choose as a wife - she may take that bondage thing a little too far in keeping with this post!)
Comment by Bryn
Horrorphile
Comment by KylieW
Celebrity Obsession
The situions is so very very wrong, but I have to agree with Voices that it's also a bit funny. Making a head stew?? And then cooking up ass steaks for the kids and the dog? That's a bit humourous, even though its very icky.
I mean, obviously the woman is seriously seriously disturbed. It would make for a good horror movie though. Bryn, I'm sure you could come up with a script.
Some handy tips for my next dinner party.,...or perhaps not.
KylieW
KylieW
Comment by Ash
Australian Traveller
Flashes of memories
Comment by Bryn
Horrorphile
Comment by Ash
Australian Traveller
Flashes of memories
Comment by Hellvis
Earache Hotel
Um, yeah this is horrible and I agree with Bryn that the woman is truly ghastly. A true death's head grin if ever I saw one. My favourite part of the photo is that there's a picture of her, and then a tiny little picture of his head superimposed in the bottom right hand corner. Talk about insensitive. Perhaps they were going to use a picture of his ass, but decided that would be just too gratuitous.
Oh, and I'm also impressed with the fact that she cooked his ass with vegies. Even though she was committing a henious act, she was still mindful of two of the five food groups: ass and vegetables. Surely this should win her some sort of homemaker of the year award.
Comment by Anonymous
“And that is why we should all treat our wives with the respect that they deserve.”
You got it and>> they don’t deserve much<<.
Islam is looking better and better all the time.
The reality is Western Men have been placing, Women on Pedestals that they don’t belong on for a very long time. It is time for a reality check for men, especially in Australia, ground zero for feminism. WOMEN ARE NOT EQUAL TO MEN! Never have been, and never will be.
Don’t believe me, check out the devoice rates in western countries.
Some things Western Women Suck at.
Being a Wife
Being a Mother to your children
Being a decent Sex Partner
Being a Trustworthy Individual.
Having basic morality that isn’t centered around her.
Things Western Women are Good at.
Whining about how Men have violated their rights, and getting corrupt Western Politicians to go along with it.
OK men, GET A CLUE!
STOP MARRYING THESE BITCHES, and move on to greener pastures.
Here is where you can start, if you have the courage to face the truth.
http://www.nomarriage.com/
http://www.americanwomensuck.com/
http://www.standyourground.com/
http://www.mensnewsdaily.com/
Comment by Bryn
Horrorphile
Comment by Anonymous
Seeeexist
Ha,Ha,Ha!
Dam!
That is definitely an original response.
You must have had a Western Woman think that one up for you.
Comment by Bryn
Horrorphile
Comment by Anonymous
Bryn “No, I'm just smarter than the average bear ... “
Yeah!
Im definitely feeling the intellect from here.
Comment by KylieW
Celebrity Obsession
Comment by Anonymous
Well If you mean am I going to let one Handcuff me to a bed, and stick a dildo up my ass.
Then the answer is definitely NO!
I will leave that brilliant pleasure to the good people here.
Comment by Anonymous
The truth is that you are all right. I am a bit psycho...sometimes I don't even know that I have said things or whatever. I just wake up and see what I have posted, if it's still on the screen before I pass out and just want to vomit. Sometimes I like my hate-filled shit...I get off on it, pushing everyone's buttons. But the thing is...I more than likely won't even remember tomorrow that I wrote this so who cares? Not to the point of passing out yet...I will be on someone else's blog before I get to that point. So who cares, right? I will deny it later anyways...the beauty of being Anon.
I don't hate women. I drink. I drink A LOT. I haven't seen a naked female ever. I get desperate. A dildo up my ass? I wish.
All of you can just go to hell for being right.
Comment by Anonymous
Welcome Anon
Im glad you shared, this aspect of your life, with us Anon. it is right up there with a filthy Psychotic Western Woman, killing and skinning her husband.
You seem to fit quite well with the other, anti, male bigots, and BDSM fanatics here.
Anon “I don't hate women. I drink. I drink A LOT. I haven't seen a naked female ever. I get desperate. A dildo up my ass? I wish.”
Trust me, naked women aren’t really that special, once you have seen one, you have seen them all.
But the drinking thing you should really lay off on.
And it is OK to hate most Western White Women, they have earned it.
Comment by Anonymous
nomarriage.com
americanwomensuck.com
standyourground
mensnewsdaily
Hay Guys, don’t get caught, with a whiney, good for nothing British, American, or other Western Woman, like the one mentioned in this article. Even if she doesn’t kill you, she will be a liability to your life.
Break free and become a real MAN, as opposed to, a wimpy pervert, with a dildo up his rear end.
Comment by Anonymous
I need to be with a man. I love men. I want men. I fantasize about them every night. Where, oh where is it raining men because I want to be there! I don't just mean on my online men's group websites...someone tell me where the nearest gay bar is! PLEASE!
You know, I have been reading over the last four entries I have made and...jesus I need to stop answering myself. I am starting to look like a damn moron.
Comment by Anonymous
That’s pretty funny, so I guess you are smarter than the average Bear. Ill be it a bear with a dildo up his rear.
By the way I think you are making the right move going to men, as opposed to simply depending on dressing your Girl Friend, up like a man with a strap on.
Might as well move to the real thing Haa!
Comment by Bryn
Horrorphile
Comment by Anonymous
“Anon ... meet Anon .... I think you two should embark on an anonymous relationship ... really get to know each other as complete strangers ... exhange reasoning behind your slightly unhinged personas and why you hide behind the facade of so-called "anonymity" ... “
Interesting!
Are you sure Anon #2 and I do mean #2 is not closely related to; well>> YOU!<<
Lol!
Besides did you not say this
“too late ... my gf cuffs me to the bed and whips me on a nightly basis .... “
If this is true you, need to worry about your own problems, and not be worrying about who is posting as Anonymous on an internet message board.
For starters, might be finding one the Few, women left on the planet that aren’t weirdos.
Of course if you are really into those things you might try, this Katherine Mary Knight person, I hear she is free, something about a deceased husband.
Comment by Tammy
Comment by Anonymous