Sydney mum-killer says her murder conviction should be overturned
A Sydney woman convicted of murdering her mother is seeking to have her conviction quashed because of expert evidence about injuries she suffered at the hands of an alleged mystery assailant, a court has heard.
Isabela Camelo-Gomez is serving a 20-year prison sentence after a Supreme Court jury found her guilty of murdering her mother, Irene Jones, nearly 25 years ago.
Ms Jones, 56, was found strangled and stabbed in the neck at her home in Lansvale, western Sydney, in November 2001.
Camelo-Gomez claimed her mother was attacked by an unidentified man who tried to strangle her during a violent home invasion.
Camelo-Gomez told police she was attacked by a blonde man after getting out of the shower in the master bathroom.
During his trial, the Crown argued that Camelo-Gomez killed Ms Jones because he stood in the way of his mother’s relationship with a man named Carlos Camelo-Gomez.
In sentencing, Judge Helen Wilson said Camelo-Gomez suffered “minor” injuries that were “inconsistent with the desperate struggle the perpetrator described to police.”
Camelo-Gomez is currently fighting to have his conviction overturned in the state’s highest court, and his legal team is arguing that expert evidence about the injuries he suffered should not be admitted during his trial in 2022.
The woman told police she was attacked by an unidentified man who tried to strangle her with a ligature, the Court of Criminal Appeal was told on Monday.
“When I turned to run… I saw something going fast and it knocked me off my feet and I was walking backwards really fast because I wanted to catch my breath,” he told police two days after the murder, according to a statement filed in court Monday.
The court was told the woman also told officers: “I couldn’t pull away, it was too strong, it was cutting like it hurt and it was burning.”
An expert said at Camelo-Gomez’s trial that he would have expected to see externally visible injuries if Camelo-Gomez had drowned.
But his lawyer, Tony Evers, told the court on Monday that the expert did not have the expertise to predict what type of injuries could be expected.
Mr Evers told the court: “It is quite clear that he did not rely on any scientific data, any scientific study or medical study to reach his opinion as to the frequency of visible injuries resulting from ligament strangulation.”
“He relies only on his own experience.”
Crown prosecutor Monica Millward said the expert’s evidence was “not exaggerated” and was based on clinical observations at the time, not just 20-year-old photographs.
“I don’t accept that… the jury may have misunderstood the seriousness the opinion deserved.”
Camelo-Gomez, who was treated as the prime suspect for nearly two decades, was arrested and charged in September 2019.
The court was told that after her mother was killed, Camelo-Gomez went to a neighbor’s house, claiming she had been attacked by an intruder.
After responding to Camelo-Gomez’s triple 0 calls, officers found Ms. Jones lying face down on the kitchen floor, covered in blood.
The crown prosecution argued that he was also motivated by financial reasons and was entitled to inherit his mother’s home.
Just hours before she was killed, Ms. Jones had dinner with Camelo-Gomez to celebrate her 56th birthday.
Carlos Camelo-Gomez was unable to testify during Camelo-Gomez’s trial because he suffered brain damage in a car accident nearly 10 years ago.
Camelo-Gomez was sentenced to 20 years in prison with a non-parole period of 14 years.
He will be eligible for parole in May 2036, and his general sentence ends in 2042.
Acting Judge Derek Price, Judge Stephen Campbell and Judge Dina Yehia will make their decision on the appeal at a later date.
