Katherine Knight shocked a nation by becoming the first Australian woman ever sentenced to life without parole. In 2000, she brutally murdered her partner, John Price, stabbing him 37 times before skinning him alive. But the horror didn’t end there — Knight boiled Price’s head and cooked his rump steak with vegetables, even plating the human flesh with labels bearing the names of Price’s children in one of Australia’s most macabre murders.
Officer describes grisly scene: “Human skin hanging in one piece”
Former Sergeant Robert Wells, one of the first officers on the scene, revealed chilling details. Knight had already been taken away in an ambulance after taking pills to feign suicide attempts. “I walked inside and saw the human skin pelt hanging up, completely intact in one piece. John Price’s decapitated and skinned body was lying on the floor in the loungeroom,” he recounted.
Wells exposed the chilling method behind Knight’s actions: “His head was boiled and cooked in a pot on the stove. Slices of his rump were baked with vegetables and served on plates, labelled with the names of his children.” This horrific gesture aimed to psychologically torture Price’s family beyond the savage physical attack.
Judge slams Knight’s cruelty: “He lived his last minutes in terror while she enjoyed it”
Justice Barry O’Keefe delivered a scathing verdict: “The last minutes of life must have been a time of abject terror for him, as they were a time of utter enjoyment for her.” Knight’s sadistic pleasure in Price’s suffering turned a murder into a nightmare of prolonged torture. The 37 stab wounds showed chilling premeditation, sealing her fate with a life sentence without parole.
Warning signs ignored: A violent history leading to tragedy
Knight’s violent tendencies began early. She claimed childhood abuse and was notorious for brutal bullying. Her first husband, David Kellett, was attacked repeatedly—including an attempted strangulation on their wedding night and a skull fracture from a frying pan.
Other partners also suffered her rage—she killed a dog and stabbed a partner with scissors. Price himself survived a previous stabbing by Knight and took out a restraining order. He warned workmates to call police if he went missing, acutely aware of her deadly threat.
Former detective Luke Taylor blasted the system’s failure: “There were so many warning signs yet none were heeded. She was a horror movie in the making.” Authorities missed chance after chance to intervene as Knight moved from violent relationship to relationship.
Horrific aftermath and psychological profile
Neighbours alerted police after seeing blood stains on Knight’s door, leading to the grisly discovery. Knight’s skill as a meatworker made the butchery all the more eerie. Her case remains an extreme outlier, combining sadistic violence, sexual cruelty, and cannibalistic elements rarely seen from female offenders.
Psychologists suggest psychopathy rather than trauma drove Knight’s brutal behaviour, especially given her apparent delight in tormenting her victims.
Life without parole: Justice served, but at what cost?
Despite Knight’s 2006 appeal, the courts refused to reduce her sentence. The verdict recognised that some monsters belong behind bars for life. Knight remains imprisoned at Silverwater Women’s Correctional Centre, a sentence almost unheard of for a woman in Australia.
Legacy: A brutal warning and systemic failure
John Price’s death remains a stark warning of the catastrophic consequences of ignoring repeated violence. The system’s failure to protect multiple victims before Price’s murder haunts Australia’s domestic violence policies today.
Knight’s grim nickname, “Australia’s Hannibal Lecter”, echoes public horror but risks glamourising real evil. This remains one of the bleakest chapters in Australia’s true crime history — a chilling reminder of how far some killers will go.
