National

Parole date for strawberry patch killer

By AAP Newswire

Aug 16, 2022

Adelaide Supreme Court signage (file image) — A new prison release date has been set for a woman who killed a transvestite truck driver. -AAP Image

A woman jailed over the murder of a transvestite truck driver in South Australia has been given a new release date after being returned to custody for breaching her parole.

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Nicole Therese McGuinnessÂ was jailed for at least 18 years in 2003 after pleading guilty to the murder of Joanne Lillecrapp, also known as John.

She stabbed her victim in the chest and, along with her lover Donna Lee Casagrande, dismembered the body, burning the head and burying other parts under a strawberry patch.

Casagrande was jailed for at least 10 years after pleading guilty to manslaughter.

McGuinness was first released on parole in early 2021 but the Supreme Court was told recently that she had breached the conditions of her release by failing drug tests.

She asked to be sentenced to time served in relation to those breaches, allowing her to apply for immediate release once more.

On Tuesday, the court set a new one-year non-parole period but backdated it to October last year, when McGuinness was returned to custody.

That means she will be eligible for parole again in about two months.

By AAP Newswire

Australian Associated Press