It’s been reported that this week, Evie Amati, who was convicted and jailed over an axe attack at an Enmore service station has been involved in a jail brawl with fellow inmates who believe Amati belongs in a male prison.
Amati underwent gender reassignment surgery in Thailand in 2014 and has been placed at the all-female Mary Wade Women’s Correctional Centre.
Via News.com.au, it’s been revealed that another inmate confronted Amati before telling her she belonged in a male-only prison. It’s believed tension around the issue is growing on account of Amati “de-transitioning” from female back to male.
The revelations came during appeal proceedings for what what has been slammed as a “manifestly inadequate” prison sentence for attacking three people with an axe in January 2017. Amati was sentenced to no more than nine years, and no less than four-and-a-half for the attacks.
The issue was brought to The NSW Court of Criminal Appeal, who were told by Crown barrister Maria Cinque that the sentence was “so manifestly inadequate that it is an affront to the administration of justice”.
“The non-parole period [four-and-a-half years] is only six months more than the indicative (minimum) sentence for the first offence.”
Initially, Amati was facing a sentence of 75 years with a non-parole period of 20 years.
Prior to the attack, Amati, believed to have just been on a “bad” Tinder date, began hearing voices that told her to “kill and maim and start the rise of hell on Earth”. She equipped an axe bought months earlier and entered the Enmore 7-Eleven where she attacked two people with the axe.
One victim, Ben Rimmer, was struck in the face with the axe and required four metal plates inserted in his face.
The second victim, Sharon Hacker, was struck in the back of the head but is believed to have been protected by her thick deadlocks. A second swing at Ms Hacker missed by inches. A third victim, Shane Redwood, defended himself from the axe using a backpack and has since returned home to the UK.
Following the failed Tinder date, it’s believed Amati ingested a mix of cocktails and drugs into her system.
In considering the initial sentence, Judge Mark Williams took into account including the role of gender dysphoria, depression and drug taking as having played a role in the offence. Despite the early plea of innocence due to mental illness, the court handed down a custodial sentence.
