Killer teen Jamie Lee Dolheguy was ‘tempted to do something bad’
A teen who strangled a man she met on an online dating app had her round-the-clock care cut back in the months before the killing, despite having a long history of self-harm and reported thoughts about harming others, a court has heard.
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A killer teen who strangled a man she met online begged not to be left alone and warned her carers that she was being tempted to do something “bad”.
Jamie Lee Dolheguy had been under the watch of two carers in a comprehensive round-the-clock care regimen to deal with her complex mental health needs.
But her Supreme Court murder trial heard on Thursday the care had been reduced to just eight hours a day in the months before she killed 24-year-old Maulin Rathod in July last year.
— Scroll down to read the police call transcript
Ms Dolheguy, who was 18 at the time but recently turned 20, had challenged the reduction in care, saying she was fearful of being left alone.
Support worker Leanne Acreman told the court Ms Dolheguy was one of the most challenging people she had worked with in her 30 year career.
She said there was no mental health facility available to treat her, but there were plans in place to try and reduce her dependence on care.
The court heard she had a long history of self-harm and had reported thoughts about harming others.
On the day of the killing, she messaged a support worker to say she had forgotten her medication, needed help and felt “really sick with bad temptations”.\
“I want to call police but they won’t believe me. I want to cry,” she said.
She had met with a worker earlier that day who told the court she presented well with “no mental health concerns to note”.
Ms Dolheguy, who was described as having no friends or family support, sent the worker home early saying she wanted to watch a DVD.
Mr Rathod, who had met Ms Dolheguy on dating app Plenty of Fish, visited her home later that day.
It was their first face-to-face meeting.
Ms Dolheguy told him: “I have like psychopathic tendencies in my head and I’m not really that safe.”
Shortly later she strangled him.
In a phone call to police she said: “I think I killed someone, I didn’t want to but I did it … I strangled him, he’s on my bed, it feels so good, I don’t want to be a killer.”
The hearing, before Justice Peter Almond, continues.
READ THE POLICE CALL TRANSCRIPT