A transgender woman from Australia has been jailed for nine years for attempted murder after she walked into a 7-Eleven and began randomly attacking two terrified shoppers with a fire axe.
In the early hours of January 7 of 2017, 25-year-old Evie Amati used a two-kilogram axe to batter Ben Rimmer in the face and smack Sharon Hacker in the back of the head inside the Enmore store, before swinging the weapon at Shane Redwood as she fled. She was arrested shortly after the incident and charged with attempted murder.
The court heard that Amati had been "out of her mind" on MDA, hormones, alcohol and cannabis at the time of the incident, and experiencing a gradual decline in her mental health following a break-up in 2015. Despite this, the jury at her trial rejected her defence team's claims that she was suffering from "mental derangement."
In his final sentence, Judge Mark Williams described the attack as "a very serious and confronting episode. The risk of death was high in each case, and the fact that death did not occur was entirely a matter of good fortune."
While he acknowledged the mitigating factors in the case, he added that they did not provide: "Sufficient merit to detract from the conclusion that this is a case in which a significant period of full-time imprisonment is required."
Amati grew up in a comfortable suburb of Perth as the child of West Australian trade union royalty. She enjoyed a privileged childhood, and was academically gifted, topping the state figures in English, and later becoming the highest achiever in Western Australia’s top public school in English literature, ancient history and political science.
She graduated high school and moved to Sydney to study US foreign policy, as well as work as a member service centre organiser with the CPSU. She also played the drums in the punk band Everything I Have is Broken and performed gigs with the other members in pubs.
However, her mental well-being began to gradually deteriorate over time. After breaking up with her girlfriend, she became depressed and attempted suicide numerous times. Soon, her depression gave way to violent, homicidal urges, and she reportedly fantasised about attacking other people while riding public transport.
On Facebook, she posted: "One day I am going to kill a lot of people," before adding: "Humans are only able to destroy to hate so that is what I shall do."
As a result of the incident, Sharon Hacker has lost 25 kg of weight and suffers from severe nerve pain. Not only that, but her daughter has become agoraphobic and fearful of going out after dark. Ben Rimmer appeared to testify at the trial and has been left with a large scar on his forehead.
