Kailee Mitz sues Victorian government after being stabbed by ISIS-extremist inmate
A Canadian woman has launched legal action after a fellow inmate managed to sneak a pair of garden shears into her low risk unit and stab her.
Exactly how an Islamic State extremist smuggled a pair of garden shears into a low-risk prison to stab a fellow inmate is at the heart of a new lawsuit launched against the Victorian government.
In October 2020, Canadian mother Kailee Mitz was awaiting sentencing in Melbourne’s Dame Phyllis Frost jail for her involvement in a plot to import $6.7 million worth of methamphetamine into Australia.
The 28-year-old from Ontario was reading a book in her low-risk cell when fellow inmate Momena Shoma appeared and tried to stab her with a pair of garden shears she had hidden in her headscarf.
Shoma, then 27, was serving a 42-year sentence for stabbing her homestay host in the neck in another brutal ISIS-motivated attack carried out in 2018.
Mitz was able to block Shoma’s shears with her hand before her attacker was seized and pinned by fellow inmates, and the guards were called.
The Supreme Court of Victoria would later hear that the Bangladesh-born Shoma had been in 24-hour lockdown just a month before the attack on Mitz and had been allowed socialise with other prisoners after pretending to be deradicalised.
The court would also hear that another inmate had hidden the shears in laundry for Shoma to find, and that Shoma deliberately targeted Mitz because her Canadian nationality meant the attack would receive attention outside Australia.
The ABC reports Mitz is now suing Victoria for unspecified damages for failing to protect her.
The national broadcaster on Friday said Mitz alleges prison officials breached their duty of care to her, and were negligent because they did not properly supervise the ‘high risk’ Shoma or stop her from getting ahold of weapons.
Mitz’s statement of claim filed to the County Court also alleges senior prison staff tried to get her to keep Shoma’s attack quiet.
This included keeping the incident from her family and Canada’s High Commissioner to Australia.
The Department of Justice is yet to file a defence, and told the ABC it would not be commenting on a matter that is before the court.
Mitz’s lawyer Jeremy King from Robinson Gill said prisoners were entitled to be safe and looked after.
“I have never seen a case in prison, where garden shears have effectively gone missing, and then been able to be used as a weapon,” Mr King told the ABC.
“To put it in context, in other prisons, you have extremely tight controls over every bit of equipment. So, for example, a broom has to be checked in and checked out. And, so, given that context, it‘s absolutely staggering that garden shears could go missing and then be used as a weapon.
“We allege that they breached that duty of care.”
Shoma has since had her prison sentence extended by six more years and could be behind bars until 2066, by which time she will be 72.
Mitz, meanwhile, in November pleaded guilty to her drug crimes, nearly two years after she was originally caught and a year after the attack by Shoma.
Mitz was jailed for nine-and a-half years but can apply for parole in four.