Axe attacker Evie Amati heard voices telling her to ‘kill and maim’

A transgender woman who attacked two people with an axe at a Sydney 7-Eleven store says a voice told her to “kill and maim” and “start the rise of hell on Earth”, a jury has heard.

A TRANSGENDER woman who attacked two people with an axe at a Sydney 7-Eleven store says a voice told her to “kill and maim” and “start the rise of hell on Earth”, a jury has heard.

Evie Amati, 26, has pleaded not guilty on the grounds of mental illness to wounding with intent to murder two store customers and attempting to wound a pedestrian with intent to murder in Enmore, in the city’s inner west, in the early hours of January 7, 2017.

Evie Amati is accused of the axe attack. Picture: Facebook

She claims she heard voices in the lead-up to the attack. Picture: Facebook

CCTV footage of the assault, showing Amati swinging an axe with both hands and blood gushing from one of her victims, was played to the 12-person jury at her trial last week.

In the District Court on Thursday, Amati was asked by her barrister Charles Waterstreet about her memory of that night’s events, specifically after she arrived home from a Tinder date with Mickila Jahnsen.

CCTV footage from the 7-Eleven shows Amati walking into the service station with an axe.

The CCTV footage shows her attacking a man inside the 7-Eleven, then another customer entering the premises, as she walks out and away with the axe.

The court heard Amati had taken a pill, which she thought was ecstasy or MDMA, with Ms Jahnsen and others but got out of a car they were travelling in after thinking they had all secretly talked about her being transgender.

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Amati said she started hearing “inaudible whispers” as she walked home, smoked two joints on the balcony to “anaesthetise” herself and rocked back-end-forth and listened to her favourite song — Flatline by US metal band Periphery.

Amati says she had taken drugs and was hearing “inaudible voices”. Picture: Facebook

She said the voice was telling her to inflict pain on people. Picture: Facebook

“I just wanted someone to come and stroke my head and tell me that everything would be okay,” Amati said.

The voices become louder and she saw visions of herself running at police with the axe and being shot dead.

“I only really had one more memory ... that voice that had been telling me to kill and maim, and inflict pain on people, and start the rise of hell on earth,” Amati said.

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“I recall everything going quiet and feeling that voice come inside and I remember that smile, the smile that was not mine, a sinister smile that plastered my face that I couldn’t control and then I black(ed) out.”

Amati said she had “never seen” Mr Rimmer, who suffered serious facial injuries, until the day he gave evidence.

“I don’t recollect doing any of those things,” she said.

“If I could take every one of those blows and put them on myself instead ... I would’ve done it 1000 times over.”

Her barrister, Charles Waterstreet, says the 12-person jury will have to consider the state of mind and intent of Amati — and whether a defence of mental illness can be made.

She is expected to be cross-examined by prosecutor Daniel McMahon on Monday.

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