Sydney woman Evie Amati has been found guilty of two counts of wounding with intent to murder, and one count of attempted wounding with intent to murder, in relation to a brutal axe attack on the patrons of an Enmore 7-Eleven store.
CCTV footage presented to the New South Wales District Court showed Amati, 27, entering the convenience store on the early hours of January 7, 2017, while brandishing an axe and an 18cm-long kitchen knife.
The video showed Amati swing an axe at Ben Rimmer, who was lining up to buy a pie after a night out. The axe struck Rimmer in the face, causing serious injuries to his nose, eye socket, and cheekbone.
Amati then swung the axe at Sharon Hacker. The blade struck her in the back of her head, resulting in a skull fracture.
As both Rimmer and Hacker lay on the floor, Amati left the 7-Eleven and attacked pedestrian Shane Redwood. He managed to escape with minor injuries to his hands.
At trial, Amati’s attorney Charles Waterstreet argued that while it was clear Amati’s body was present during the attack, her mind was not.
Waterstreet claimed that Amati was experiencing psychosis at the time of the attack, due to alcohol and a combination of illicit and prescription drugs.
Amati had also claimed her mental health had been impacted by the hormone treatment she was undertaking as part of her gender transition. In addition, she described feeling overcome by an internal voice that was not her own which urged her to kill others.
The jury dismissed those claims and handed down a unanimous verdict, finding her guilty of wounding with intent to murder in relation to Rimmer and Hacker, and attempted wounding with intent to murder in relation to Redwood.
Amati cried as the verdict was delivered. She will be sentenced in September.
