NSW: Chicken filleter tormented by women gets three years jail

AAP General News (Australia)
08-03-2001
NSW: Chicken filleter tormented by women gets three years jail

By Denise McNamara

SYDNEY, Aug 3 AAP - A West Timorese chicken filleter tormented by his housemate and
his sham wife was jailed for three years after stabbing one of the women to death.

Michael Pello pleaded guilty to the manslaughter two years ago of his housemate Loida
Smith, who had arranged his marriage to her friend Elma Valdehueza so he could stay in
Australia.

In what the sentencing judge described as a "bare, miserable existence", Pello worked
12 hours a day as a chicken filleter and sewing machinist, handing over his pay to Ms
Smith for rent and the rest of it to his wife.

The two Philippine women squandered the money on liquor or gambling and the rent often
went unpaid, Justice Peter Hidden found in the NSW Supreme Court.

"They would demand money from the offender, threatening otherwise to report him to
the immigration authorities and have him sent back to Indonesia," he said.

The pair constantly argued about money and frequently came to blows.

On the morning of May 19, 1999, a vicious argument ensued and Ms Smith, a mother of
two, assaulted Pello, his wife and the wife's sister, who was also living in the Marrickville
house in Sydney's inner-west.

Pello grabbed a knife, stabbed her repeatedly and remained on the scene until police arrived.

In what the judge called a "poignant moment" in Pello's recorded interview with police,
the 41-year-old appeared not to be aware that his victim had died.

"It is obvious from his demeanour that the realisation shattered him," Justice Hidden said.

"I have no doubt ... he would not have killed the deceased but for the provocative
circumstances," he said.

Pello, who worked as a sewing machinist in his teens to support his eight siblings,
was found to have suffered a major depressive illness, characterised by psychotic features.

In handing him a five-and-a-half-year maximum sentence, the judge said he would be
eligible for parole in May next year after time already spent in custody.

He may then be deported, the judge said.

AAP dmc/jjs/apm/sb

KEYWORD: PELLO

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