Sydney axe attack accused says voice told her to 'kill and maim'

A woman on trial in Sydney charged with wounding with intent to murder knew she had a "sinister smile" plastered on her face but says she couldn't control it.

Evie Amati, 26, has pleaded not guilty to charges related to the attack.

Evie Amati, 26, has pleaded not guilty to charges related to the attack. Source: Supplied

A transgender woman who attacked two people with an axe at a Sydney 7-Eleven store says a voice told her to "kill and maim" and "start the rise of hell on earth", a jury has heard.

Evie Amati, 26, has pleaded not guilty to wounding with intent to murder two store customers and attempting to wound a pedestrian with intent to murder in Enmore, in the city's inner west, in the early hours of January 7, 2017.

CCTV footage of the assault, showing Amati swinging an axe with both hands and blood gushing from one of her victims, was played to the 12-person jury at her trial last week.

In the District Court on Thursday, Amati was asked by her barrister Charles Waterstreet about her memory of that night's events, specifically after she arrived home from a Tinder date.

The court heard Amati had taken a pill, which she thought was ecstasy or MDMA, with others, but got out of a car she was travelling in after thinking the group she was with had secretly talked about her being transgender.
Evie Amati, 25, is accused of an alleged axe attack in Sydney's inner west.
Evie Amati is accused of an alleged axe attack in Sydney's inner west. Source: Facebook
Amati said she started hearing "inaudible whispers" as she walked home, smoked two joints on the balcony to "anaesthetise" herself, rocked back-and-forth and listened to her favourite song - Flatline by US metal band Periphery.

"I just wanted someone to come and stroke my head and tell me that everything would be okay," Amati said.

"I only really had one more memory ... that voice that had been telling me to kill and maim, and inflict pain on people and start the rise of hell on earth.

"I recall everything going quiet and feeling that voice come inside and I remember that smile, the smile that was not mine, a sinister smile that plastered my face that I couldn't control and then I black(ed) out."


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