A forensic psychiatrist has unravelled the disturbed minds of some of the Australia’s worst murderers and the tell-tale signs they were about to commit their horrific crimes.
Dr Richard Furst has more than 16 years of experience and spoken face-to-face with some of the most violent criminals in the country.
He has assessed a daughter who decapitated her mother, a school cleaner who raped and murdered a teacher and an uncle who raped and killed his niece.
Speaking on crime podcast Twisted Minds, Dr Furst has picked apart their behaviours and revealed what might have given away their dark intentions – though admitted that, in some cases, there were no warning signs at all.
Jessica Camilleri
Jessica Camilleri, 25, is serving a 21 year sentence after stabbing her mother Rita to death at their St Claire home, in western Sydney, on July 19, 2019
Camilleri used seven kitchen knives in the attack – four of which broke due to the force of the strikes – before taking her mother’s head outside their home and placing it on the footpath
Jessica Camilleri, 25, is serving a 21-year sentence after stabbing her mother Rita to death at their St Claire home, in western Sydney, on July 19, 2019.
Camilleri used seven kitchen knives in the attack – four of which broke due to the force of the strikes – before taking her mother’s head outside their home and placing it on the footpath.
In a chilling twist, Dr Furst revealed he treated Camilleri and met her mother six years before the gruesome murder.
Camilleri had been referred for treatment by the court after grabbing her aunt by the hair and pulling her down a flight of stairs.
She was accompanied by her mother to her session with Dr Furst where the psychiatrist admitted he found nothing out of the ordinary in the would-be killer during the initial assessment.
‘She wasn’t using drugs,’ he said. ‘She wasn’t going to psychiatric hospitals. So there weren’t that many red flags and certainly no indication that the mum would be targeted in that way.’
Dr Furst admitted Camilleri had some learning difficulties and displayed signs of obsessive compulsive disorder – but nothing that rang alarm bells.
He would not see Camilleri again for another six years – after she killed her mother and while she was waiting in jail for her sentence.
Camilleri was accompanied by her mother Rita (pictured) to her session with Dr Furst where the psychiatrist admitted he found nothing out of the ordinary in the would-be killer during the initial assessment
During that long period apart Camilleri had become closed off from her friends and begun to obsessively watch horror movies like Texas Chainsaw Massacre and Jeepers Creepers.
She would also make random calls to strangers, sometimes dialling their phone number up to 100 times a day.
‘I just think that whole constellation fed into this moment where there was a sustained kind of conflict between her and the mother that exploded in the way it did,’ Dr Furst said.
Camilleri was not unlike other murderers who appeared perfectly normal on initial assessment.
Derek Barrett
Derek Barrett (left) has been jailed for 34 years and six months after filming, raping, torturing, kidnapping and murdering his niece (right, Mengmei Leng) in 2016
During his trial, Barrett admitted to repeatedly stabbing Mengmei Leng before dumping her body at the blowhole at Snapper Point, on the New South Wales Central Coast
Derek Barrett has been jailed for 34 years and six months after filming, raping, torturing, kidnapping and murdering his niece in 2016.
During his trial, Barrett admitted to repeatedly stabbing Mengmei Leng before dumping her body at the blowhole at Snapper Point, on the New South Wales Central Coast.
He admitted to filming the 25-year-old niece of his wife, while she was bound and naked, for his sexual gratification.
Dr Furst visited the IT worker following his arrest to assess his mental health and said, once again, there was nothing remarkable about his initial impression of the IT worker.
‘He seemed if anything slightly awkward, he was introverted and into IT computers by training,’ he said.
Barrett admitted to filming the 25-year-old niece of his wife, while she was bound and naked, for his sexual gratification
‘He didn’t seem like an aggressive criminal type or anything like that, or anti-social, or a person with a major mental illness. But that was pretty much the initial impression,’ he said.
Though the seasoned psychiatrist said the more he spoke to the murderer the more his opinion changed.
Barrett had tried to claim he suffered from amnesia and couldn’t remember carrying out the murder.
Dr Furst said Barret’s behaviour following the murder suggested otherwise.
‘If someone had really, truly forgotten what had happened and they ‘came to’ and saw a dead body in front of them, they normally call the police or an ambulance or do something to try and help the person,’ he said.
Vincent Stanford
Then there was the case of school cleaner Vincent Stanford who raped and killed teacher and bride-to-be Stephanie Scott at Leeton High School, in the New South Wales Riverina region, on April 5, 2015
Ms Scott (left) had gone into school on a Sunday to set up her class for a substitute teacher who would be covering her as she got married and went on her honeymoon
Then there was the case of school cleaner Vincent Stanford who raped and killed teacher and bride-to-be Stephanie Scott at Leeton High School, in the New South Wales Riverina region, on April 5, 2015.
Ms Scott had gone into school on a Sunday to set up her class for a substitute teacher who would be covering her as she got married and went on her honeymoon.
Stanford grabbed Ms Scott, dragged her into a classroom and sexually assaulted her, before stabbing her to death.
He later told police he felt compelled to kill her.
‘I had to kill her. I wasn’t angry or anything. Basically emotionless. (I) just (felt) that I had to kill her,’ court papers revealed.
Dr Furst said Stanford was motivated by deviant sexual fantasies who used Ms Scott to live out his fantasy.
Ms Scott was just a week away from marrying Aaron Leeson-Wooley (left) when she was killed on April 5, 2015. He burnt body was found buried in Cocoparra National Park on Friday, April 10
He revealed it was made even more tragic because the victim appeared to have been selected at random.
‘It was more a chance meeting between those two parties and it could have been anybody else in Leeton [NSW] or other in the neighbourhood,’ he said.
‘It was more an opportunity. It doesn’t mean that he was focused on her in particular, and it doesn’t mean that he wasn’t free of deviant thoughts in the period before that.’
After murdering Ms Scott, Stanford drove her car into the school grounds so he could not be seen loading her body into the boot.
Stanford then drove to Cocoparra National Park, placed her body on the ground and covered it in branches, before taking photos and eventually setting it alight.