A woman brutally killed her partner, decapitating him and boiling his head before attempting to cook and serve parts of his body to his children.
Katherine Knight, born in 1955, led a troubled life marked by violence and instability.
On February 28, 2000, Knight committed a horrific crime that shocked the nation.
The mom-of-four murdered her partner, John Charles Thomas Price, in a fit of rage, and mutilated him in their home in Aberdeen, in New South Wales’s Hunter Valley.
The horrific attack took place after Price obtained a restraining order against her due to a history of domestic abuse, including a stabbing incident.
According to the Daily Mail, the woman stabbed her partner with a butcher's knife while he was sleeping. He woke up and attempted to escape, but Knight chased him through the house.
Police who arrived at the residence reported that there was blood splattered on the walls and floor, suggesting that Price reached the front door but was either forced or fell back inside, where he ultimately succumbed to his injuries.
After Price's death, Knight skinned his body, decapitated him, and cooked parts of his remains. She then prepared the remains as a meal, setting the table with plates, vegetables, and notes addressed to her partner's children.
A third dish, a cooked portion of Price's buttock, was dumped in the garden. His head was found boiling in a pot with vegetables, and his body was positioned in a disturbing manner.
In addition to this, a bloodstained picture of Price, accompanied by a handwritten note, was also left at the scene. It read: "Time got you back Johathon for rapping [raping] my douter [daughter]. You to Beck [Price's daughter] for Ross – for Little John [his son]. Now play with little Johns d*** John Price."
A detective who worked the case spoke about what he witnessed inside the home: "There was a lot of blood in the hallway, which started high and then ended up low because obviously she stabbed him and she then chased him down the hallway, stabbing him."
"I saw Price's body on the floor with the head missing," he continued. "I saw his complete pelt, what you'd call skin, complete in one piece with a butcher's hook through the top of his scalp and through the hair and hanging, hooked over the architraves of a doorway from the dining area into the lounge room...He was hanging down."
Knight was detained by the police after the grotesque murder. She reportedly said she had no recollection of what happened and alleged that she was the victim of domestic abuse - something the investigator ruled out after speaking to her ex-partners.
Initially, the suspect offered to plead guilty to manslaughter, but this was rejected. She was subsequently charged with murder on March 2, 2001, and initially pleaded not guilty. However, she changed her plea to guilty the following day.
Despite pleading guilty to the horrific slaying, Knight still refused to accept responsibility for her actions. She was convicted of murder and sentenced to life imprisonment without the possibility of parole - a first for a female prisoner in Australian history.
"The prisoner, Katherine Mary Knight, does not qualify for mercy," Justice O'Keefe said, per the outlet. "She engaged in cruel, vicious behavior to Mr Price."
"She showed him no mercy. She has not expressed any contrition or remorse. If released, she poses a serious threat to the security of society," he continued. "I'm satisfied beyond any doubt that such a murder was premeditated."
"I'm further satisfied in the same way that not only did she plan the murder, but she also enjoyed the horrific acts which followed in its wake as part of a ritual of death and defilement," he concluded.
Knight's case remains one of the most disturbing and notorious crimes in Australian history.
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