Sydney woman sentenced after faking home invasion following brutal murder of her mother

Warning: Graphic A woman who hatched a plan to brutally murder her mother by strangling and stabbing her two decades ago will spend 20 years behind bars after she faked a home invasion to try and get away with the “shocking” crime. A Supreme Court jury in May found Isabela Camelo-Gomez guilty of the cold case murder of her mother Irene Jones in November 2001. Camelo-Gomez, 48, had pleaded not guilty to murdering Ms Jones, who was found in a pool of blood in her Lansvale home in Sydney’s southwest. However, the jury rejected her version of events that her mother was killed during a violent home invasion. Justice Helen Wilson on Wednesday sentenced Camelo-Gomez to 20 years in prison, with a non-parole period of 14 years, describing Camelo-Gomez’s role as having a “particular degree of horror”. During her judgment, Justice Wilson told the court graphic details of Mrs Jones’ horrific murder in her own home, noting the moment a ligature was pulled over the woman’s head and pulled tight. Justice Wilson said it “probably led quickly to unconsciousness” before she was stabbed in the neck “likely with a knife”. “She died on the floor from combined effects of ligature strangulation and the stab wound inflicted upon her,” she told the court. “In the seconds before she lost consciousness she must have been bewildered, shocked then when she realised what was taking place, terrified.” Hours before the murder, Camelo-Gomez had taken her mother out for dinner to celebrate her 56th birthday. The court was told the killer, who was 27 at the time, claimed she was in the shower before she was also assaulted by a “blonde intruder” who had a stocking on his head”. After responding to Camelo-Gomez’s triple-0 calls, officers discovered Ms Jones, 56, lying face down in a pool of blood on her kitchen floor. During her trial, the Crown alleged Camelo-Gomez killed Ms Jones because her mother stood in the way of her relationship with a man named Carlos Camelo-Gomez. “In the offender’s strong feelings for Carlos the plan to kill her mother orchestrated,” Justice Wilson said. She said it was “not possible” to say which of the two conceived the plot, but evidence pointed to Carlos’ “manipulative and devious intentions which likely suggested Mrs Jones be killed”. Justice Wilson said it was “reasonable to conclude it was him who devised the plan to kill Mrs Jones”. The court heard the plan likely began as “no more than fanciful discussions” but quickly “solidified”. While the evidence did not establish beyond reasonable doubt Carlos was the assailant, Justice WIlson said he had “stabbed and strangled” Mrs Jones while her daughter was present, pursuant to a joint criminal enterprise. “It is most unlikely he will ever face justice,” Justice Wilson told the court, as he suffers from a brain injury. Justice Wilson said a feature which made the murder “so shocking” was that it was planned and carried out “by her own beloved daughter”. “By someone she trusted entirely, for reason no better than romantic obsession and associated greed,” Justice Wilson said. “Matricide is a rare crime...one with a particular degree of horror...it breaks the ordinary bonds of love and gratitude that typically exist between mother and child.” During a sentence hearing in October, Keith Sheldrick delivered a victim impact statement on behalf of Ms Jones’ family, saying the pain and heartbreak of having a loved one murdered inside her own house still resonated more than 20 years on. He said the family would, for the rest of their lives, carry with them the images of the house where Ms Jones was strangled and stabbed in the neck twice. “It’s very hard to describe how hard it was to visit the scene and last resting place of a murdered loved one,” Mr Sheldrick told the court. “After all this time, I still struggle and cannot get the words out to succinctly verbalise it. “What we saw was a lot of blood. A pool of dark, red blood all over the kitchen, on the cupboards and on the floor. “For a while, we just felt so numb and questioned whether it was even real. Ultimately, the scene that day was implanted forever.” Outside court on Wednesday, Mr Sheldrick told media it had been a “very difficult and emotional time” for the family but Mrs Jones can “rest in peace now that justice has been effected”. An inquest into Ms Jones’s death in November 2007 found the identity of her killer could not be determined. But after being treated as the prime suspect for nearly two decades, Camelo-Gomez was arrested and charged in September 2019. After the verdict was handed down earlier this year, Camelo-Gomez told her lawyer the jury got it “wrong” and expressed disbelief. She will be eligible for parole in May 2036.