New Norfolk woman admits she attempted to murder her father in his kitchen

“I shot him, I stabbed him, but I couldn’t finish the job.” A New Norfolk woman admitted she tried to kill her father by shooting him in the face in his kitchen. What happened in court >>

New Norfolk. Picture: PATRICK GEE

A NEW Norfolk woman has confessed to the attempted murder of her father, shooting him in the face before repeatedly stabbing him as he lay wounded on the kitchen floor.

Tamara Nicole Adams, 47, faced the Supreme Court of Tasmania on Monday, pleading guilty to the attempted murder of her 74-year-old father, Russell Adams.

Crown prosecutor Linda Mason SC told the court Adams had previously been diagnosed with schizophrenia, treated with the antipsychotic medication Clozapine, and was also a registered firearms owner.

She said on Mother’s Day this year, Adams spoke to her foster brother, asking him whether he could get an unregistered gun.

“He said ‘why the f … would you want an unregistered gun for?’” Ms Mason said.

“She said ‘because I want to kill someone … I want to kill my f … ing mother.”

The man asked why, but Adams hung up the phone.

On the night of June 24, Adams arrived at her parents’ unit in Humphrey Street, New Norfolk — carrying a Norinco rifle loaded with two magazines and a knife in her back pocket.

Ms Mason said no-one heard Tamara Adams enter the house, and the dog did not bark.

Adams then appeared in the kitchen, placing the rifle on the kitchen bench and crouching down behind it.

“She aimed the rifle at the complainant’s head and said ‘this is the last time you will lord it over me, you bastard’,” Ms Mason said.

“He said ‘what’s the matter darling, what’s the matter?’”

Supreme Court of Tasmania, Salamanca Place, Hobart, Tasmania. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Richard Jupe

Adams shot her dad once to the side of the face, with Mr Adams shouting “no Tammy” and holding his wound, collapsing to the floor.

As he lay on the ground, Adams retrieved her knife and stabbed him multiple times to the neck, chest and arms.

When police arrived, Adams told them: “I shot him, I stabbed him, but I couldn’t finish the job”.

Mr Adams was transported by ambulance to the Royal Hobart Hospital in a critical condition.

Adams told police she did not want to discuss the reasons for her actions — but that she’d told her mother and the neighbour to “get out” before shooting her dad from a distance of about two metres.

She said she stabbed him at least five or six times to the neck, and said she wanted to kill him and understood her actions could lead to his death.

Mr Adams underwent surgery, with a tracheotomy performed to assist his breathing.

The bullet fragment was found near his spine, so wasn’t removed.

In his victim impact statement read to the court, Mr Adams said after the shooting, “I couldn’t walk, talk or eat”.

“Because of the damage, I choke on food regularly,” he said.

“The facial disfigurement from the gunshot is significant and a constant reminder.

(But) it all pales in comparison to the emotional damage. I am so heartbroken that my daughter did this to me.”

Defence barrister Kim Baumeler asked Chief Justice Alan Blow to order a forensic mental health report.

“It’s not suggested that there’s any defence in terms of insanity … but obviously a history of mental health and schizophrenia is going to be relevant,” she said.

Chief Justice Blow remanded Adams in custody, and will sentence her on March 15 next year.

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