Convicted murderer Shane Frederick James Josephs sentenced to 13 more years after stabbing inmate five times

An inmate at Casuarina Prison has been sentenced to a further 13 years behind bars after attempting to kill another inmate he believed was spiking prisoners’ food. On March 1 last year, then 49-year-old Shane Frederick James Josephs stabbed fellow inmate Carlos Arturo Suarez-Mejia five times with what was described as a “homemade knife”, leaving him with wounds to the back of his neck, lower back, arm and face. The pair were at the prison’s self-care unit, where Mr Suarez-Mejia was waiting in line at the medication hatch, when Josephs lunged at the victim and stabbed him multiple times. The court heard the makeshift weapon, a double-edged piece of metal fashioned into a blade with paper or fabric secured by an elastic band to form a handle, was acquired by Josephs two days prior to the attack and hidden in his unit. Josephs, who was already serving a life sentence for murder, was apprehended by prison staff and was yelling “I’ll f**king kill the c**t” and “I wanna kill the bastard”. He was then escorted back to his unit and Mr Suarez-Mejia was taken to Royal Perth Hospital for treatment. Medical staff found the victim had suffered a laceration to his right lung as a result of the stabbing. Josephs later told detectives that he believed Mr Suarez-Mejia was poisoning the food of some older prisoners and putting faeces in prison food, causing him to retaliate with the stabbing attack. Detectives were unable to find any evidence to support Josephs’ claims. Justice Bruno Fiannaca said the crime was “unprovoked, unexpected, and inflicted from behind, which made Mr Suarez-Mejia particularly vulnerable”. “I am satisfied that there are a number of aggravating factors that place your offence at the very upper end of the scale of seriousness for attempted murder, approaching the category of worst cases,” he said. Justice Fiannaca sentenced Josephs to 13 years without parole, noting his complete lack of remorse and “not caring whether Mr Suarez-Mejia died”.