By Neve Brissenden and Georgia Loney, ABC News
The defence told the court the pregnancy did not occur as a result of Skye Palazzese Edwards’ actions.
Photo: ABC South West WA: Georgia Loney
A Western Australian woman who poked holes in her housemate’s condoms in a “fit of rage” has walked free, after a court found her not guilty of acting with intent to cause harm.
Skye Palazzese Edwards, 24, faced a trial in Bunbury District Court this week, where she chose not to give evidence.
The jury was shown a recorded police interview from 2024, in which Edwards admitted to tampering with her co-tenant and long-term friend’s condoms in July 2022.
She told police she felt jealous of her friend’s relationship and said the new partner had driven a wedge into their friendship.
“He would stay at our house basically all week every week,” Edwards said.
“At first, he was really nice, always making sure we were OK with him being there… but then it was kind of like he was trying to manipulate and turn people against each other in the house.”
Police told tampered condoms came from different stash
The court heard Edwards telling police that she was home alone on the evening of 13 July 2022 and that she admitted to pricking condoms with a sewing needle.
“We really want to know what happened to the condoms you put a needle through,” police told Edwards in the recorded interview.
Edwards sat in silence for more than a minute, before saying: “I was sure I threw out the ones I did do it to.”
She told police she pricked holes in several condoms in a “fit of rage”, but denied they were ever used, saying that she threw them out afterwards, along with photos and cards representing her friendship.
The defence claimed the accused did not cause the victim to be pregnant.
Defence lawyer Derek Hunter said, while Edwards admitted she put holes in condoms from the bathroom medicine cabinet, she did not put holes in the housemate’s bedroom stash, where the condom presented to police was found.
He said that hole could have been something else.
“Was it a cat’s claw or a pin prick?” he proposed to the jury in his closing statement.
Friend fell pregnant, but miscarried
Her friend reported the tampering to police, after falling pregnant and presenting to hospital with a miscarriage.
The court heard she experienced debilitating abdominal pain.
The housemate then saw a text exchange between Edwards and a former partner, in which the accused admitted to pricking the condoms with a sewing needle.
“I poked holes in half their condoms,” the text read. “Gotta put those pregnancy tests to use somehow.”
Edwards’ housemate then returned home to find at least one of her condoms with a hole through the package.
The court heard the targeted couple used condoms alongside other forms of contraception.
“One thing we all talked about before we all moved in was avoiding pregnancy, because we didn’t have room for a baby or were financially ready for one,” Edwards told police in her interview.
Prosecutors failed to prove beyond reasonable doubt her actions had resulted in harm to her friend.
– ABC News