Rebecca Butterfield: Inmate facing charge for assaulting guard

She is considered one of NSW’s most dangerous inmates – so much so she is being kept in jail despite serving her sentence. But Rebecca Jane Butterfield is back in court following allegations she has struck again while behind bars.

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One of the state’s most violent prisoners is attempting to have a charge alleging she assaulted a prison guard thrown out of court on mental health grounds.

Rebecca Jane Butterfield is currently behind bars on a five year continued detention order, Burwood Local Court heard, after the state government successfully argued in 2016 she was too violent to be allowed back into the community upon finishing her manslaughter sentence.

She was convicted of stabbing another inmate 33 times in a gruesome attack and is considered one of the most dangerous offenders currently behind bars.

Rebecca Butterfield is currently in Silverwater Jail.

The Supreme Court, in ordering her continued detention four years ago, had found she would self-harm in a bid to lure guards into her cell before attacking them.

Butterfield’s lawyer has asked her fresh assault charge be thrown out of court.

Police did not object to the application on Tuesday.

According to court documents, police accuse her of assaulting a guard at 10.05am at Silverwater Jail on October 3.

Butterfield is due for release in November next year, five years after her original manslaughter sentence was up.

Her lawyer had argued that in the lead up to the incident, Butterfield had scaled back on her medication before increasing them again because “her stability was the greatest need” which had resulted in an “adjustment period”.

Magistrate Alison Viney had refused to dismiss the case until a fresh report from Justice Health was before her.

Butterfield’s lawyer had handed up reports made prior to the alleged jailhouse assault suggesting the case could be dismissed under mental health grounds.

Her matter will be heard again in the same court in the new year.

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