Woman who cooked victim appeals sentence

Australian murderer Katherine Knight has appealed her sentence of life imprisonment. Knight pleaded guilty in 2001 to stabbing 44-year-old John Price, 37 times, skinning him and then roasting his buttocks with vegetables as a meal for his children. When police found Price’s body, his skin was hanging from a meat hook in the lounge and his head was cooking in a stew on the stove.

Knight, 50-years-old and a mother of four, sat stony faced during the appeal. Her defense lawyer, John Stratton, argued she was the only woman doing a full life sentence in Australia and the difference from other domestic killings was the mutilation of the body. He continued that rather than being premeditated, Knight was angry because Price wanted to end their relationship and the murder was a "crime of passion."

Appeals judge, Justice Adams, said psychiatric evidence suggested Knight got some pleasure from the mutilation. The court reserved its decision until a later date.