On January 2, 2019, Hanny Papanicolaou, 39, scaled the fence of Marjorie Welsh’s home in Ashbury, Sydney’s inner-west, before assaulting the elderly woman.
Ms Welsh was surprised to see her cleaner, but she greeted her with a grin just minutes before Papanicolaou began slapping her with her own cane.
She smacked her elderly client with a stick till it broke, causing her to look for another, then hurled several ceramic pots at Ms Welsh and snatched a knife from a drawer.
Ms Welsh, who survived the attack, described her attacker as ‘utterly violent.’ Papanicolaou stabbed the 92-year-old numerous times in the chest and belly.
She only came to a halt after the elderly woman remembered to use the medical alert necklace her family had set up for her only a few weeks previously.
The loud siren frightened Papanicolaou, who snatched the knife she had used to attack the elder woman and fled the Ashbury residence in her car, according to The Australian.
Ms Welsh was left for dead after sustaining many fractures, deep abdominal incisions, and severe bruising, necessitating numerous days in intensive care.
Her bereaved family and hospital officials agreed that her chances of recovering from the terrible attack were limited, and she was given morphine to help her sleep.
While in the hospital, Ms Welsh gave two police interviews, identifying her assailant as ‘Hanny the housekeeper’ and detailing the horrible incident.
‘It would be a peace of mind if I could,’ she said when asked if she could conceive of a cause for the attack.
‘Things happen in this world for logical reasons most of the time, but I don’t see any sense in this.’
The elderly woman also mentioned installing’special gates’ to make her home ‘killer proof,’ despite the fact that she would never return to her beloved ‘dream world’ home.
The 92-year-old died in Balmain Hospital six weeks after the attack.
The NSW Supreme Court convicted Papanicolaou guilty of murder in February and sentenced him to 22 years in prison with a 15-year non-parole period on May 27.
Her client was unaware that her maid had lost $400 at the Canterbury-Hurlstone Park RSL club’s pokies before to her surprise presence.
Papanicolaou was a regular gambler, but she made sure that her habit didn’t prevent her family from living well.
She later told the court that she’made herself tranquil’ by gaming.
She took money from an ATM multiple times on this particular summer morning, reducing her bank account to the meager sum of $11.76.
After her husband Nick, 53, was let off from his work in the telecommunications business, money became a point of contention in their marriage.
Her lawyer claims that there were “established patterns for a vulnerability creating a serious depressed order” at the time of the attack because she gave birth prematurely.
After her air conditioner broke, the cleaner only got four hours of sleep the night before and was tossing and turning in the summer heat.
At before 10 a.m., Papanicolaou left the RSL and drove to Peace Park, a patch of greenery adjacent to Mr Welsh’s backyard.
She decided to scale the fence and was received warmly by her old customer, who was completely unprepared for the horrible attack that was about to happen.
In the hours after the assault, Ms Welsh told police that her cleaner was always ‘charming’ and she had truly believed they were friends.
The 92-year-old was introduced to Papanicolaou’s youngest child, who was given $50 by her senior client.
While Papanicolaou was cleaning the house, the two frequently conversed, with Papanicolaou later describing Ms Welsh as a “lovely woman.”
After fleeing the Ashbury house, she sent her husband a series of worried texts.
One note said, “Please, I’m going to die, I think it’s best for me.”
‘You’ll never believe me again, please please,’ read another. You will never believe me for the rest of your life. It’s better if I die. Please look after the children; I’m sick of this existence. Sorry from the bottom of my heart.’
Justice Robertson Wright ruled in May that the murder was ‘unplanned and impulsive,’ and that the cleaner needed money from the house to cover his expenses.
He found Papanicolaou was not suffering from a major depressive illness at the time but did have some symptoms of depression and anxiety.
‘The death was a great human tragedy especially for her family and for all others affected by this sad matter,’ he said.
The judge found the cleaner intended to rob and then kill her elderly client.
Angela MacLeod, one of her two daughters, previously said their mother was someone who could achieve anything she wanted in life.
‘Life wasn’t always perfect for mum… but she was strong, intelligent, loving, protective, all those things that you’d want in a mum,’ she said.
‘We were always very proud of her.’