SA court jails Donna Casagrande for seven years over 2002 manslaughter and 2012 crime spree
A WOMAN involved in the infamously grotesque slaughter of a transvestite has been given a new seven-year jail term that encompasses all her criminal offending.
A WOMAN involved in the infamously grotesque slaughter of a transvestite has been given a new seven-year jail term that encompasses all her criminal offending.
Donna Lee Casagrande today wept in the dock of the Supreme Court as she was jailed for seven years and three days, with a four-year non-parole period.
That sentence serves as punishment for the crime spree upon which Casagrande embarked after serving 10 years for beheading and dismembering transvestite John “Joanne” Lillecrapp.
Justice Michael David said the term included the remainder of Casagrande’s manslaughter term which, by going on a crime spree, she had reactivated.
“The fact you must serve the unexpired portion (of the manslaughter sentence) means that this will necessarily be a heavy sentence,” he told Casagrande.
“However, it is not my desire that it be a crushing sentence that allows you no hope for the future.”
In 2003, Casagrande and her then-lover, Nicole Therese Coucier McGuinness, were jailed over the death of Ms Lillecrapp — a transvestite, truck driver and professional wrestler.
McGuinness pleaded guilty to murder, and Casagrande to manslaughter, after they killed Ms Lillecrapp, beheaded him and dismembered his corpse in 2001.
The remains of Ms Lillecrapp were buried in his strawberry patch and dumped at locations around Adelaide.
In sentencing, the late Justice John Perry said the killing and “gruesome dismemberment” showed the “cold-blooded callousness” of the former prostitutes, who had befriended Ms Lillecrapp.
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Casagrande received a 10-year minimum term, while McGuinness was jailed for at least 18 years.
In November 2011, Casagrande was released on parole but, three months later, was charged with theft, deception and trespass offences.
She pleaded guilty and was jailed for three years and four months.
That sentence, however, was to begin after the expiration of her manslaughter term — creating an effective sentence of six years, five months and 22 days.
Casagrande subsequently challenged her sentence in the Supreme Court, saying expert reports showed she was “clearly not ready” for release and at risk of “serving double punishment”.
Her lawyers said that, at the time of the crime spree, she was suffering mental anguish due to the death of her mother, an “inappropriate relationship” and the “abuse” of her employers.
Prosecutors argued Casagrande could be shown little mercy, and pointed out much of her criminal history was linked with “forming inappropriate relationships”.
In sentencing today, Justice David said he had allowed Casagrande’s appeal due to a “technical error” in which the sentencing magistrate failed to give her credit for four months in custody.
He said Casagrande’s new sentence should be backdated to her arrest in January 2012 — meaning she will be eligible for release in January 2016.