For the first time in the history of the country, England broadcast on TV this Friday (28) the announcement of the sentence of a defendant sentenced to life imprisonment for murder. This is Jemma Mitchell, 38, arrested for killing and decapitating Mee Kuen Chong, 67, last year.
The sentence reading, given by Judge Richard Marks KC, was broadcast by London’s Central Criminal Court, known as the Old Bailey. The magistrate said Mitchell, who calls herself a healer, committed a crime with “creepy aspects”.
Mitchell grew up in Australia with his mother, a British Foreign Office employee. She killed Chong at the victim’s home, and two weeks later left the decapitated and decomposing body in a forest in the town of Salcombe, 200 miles[320 km]from the scene of the crime.
Judge Marks sentenced Mitchell to life in prison with at least 34 years in jail — local law dictates that magistrates must specify, in these cases, the minimum period that the convict must be in prison before he has the right to appeal a life sentence.
According to the prosecution’s arguments, Mitchell became friends with the victim, who was a widow and was a regular churchgoer. She reportedly killed her and also forged a will to try to inherit most of Chong’s possessions — £700,000.
“You showed absolutely no remorse; the scale of your crime is deeply shocking, even more so given your apparent religious devotion and the fact that Chong is a good friend,” the judge said in announcing the sentence, according to a report by the BBC and the BBC. newspaper The Guardian.
Chong’s body was found in a forest in Salcombe by a tourist, and his head was discovered nearby days later. The autopsy was unable to determine the cause of death due to the level of decomposition of the body, but determined that there was a fracture to the skull.
Chong also had broken ribs, likely due to the way Mitchell put his body in a suitcase to transport him. Mitchell, however, denies being guilty of the crime.
Chong’s family watched the sentencing announcement virtually from Malaysia. Her sister, Amy, spoke during the hearing, when she said that she has not been able to sleep at the thought of the “horrible and tragic” death.
“We still don’t understand how she died; did she suffer? This mystery will haunt me forever,” Amy said, according to local media.
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