Add Category
Teary interview ... prison worker Joyce Mitchell, who helped two convicts escape from jail, has broken her silence. Picture: Today
JOYCE Mitchell, the prison worker who pleaded guilty to helping inmates Richard Matt and David Sweat escape from a New York prison in June, has said that she was sexually assaulted by one of the escapees.
Breaking her silence in a teary jailhouse interview, Mitchell described the alleged assault she suffered at the hands of Matt, who was shot and killed by police after nearly three weeks on the run. Sweat was recaptured just two days afterwards.
“Mr. Matt had grabbed me a couple times and kissed me and then there was one point where he had … he wanted me to perform [a sex act] on him and I said no. And when I said no, he grabbed my head and pushed me down,†Mitchell said. “There was never any consensual [sexual contact].â€
Mitchell admitted to flirting with the two prisoners, “but that’s all it ever wasâ€.
“I was going through a time where I felt like my husband didn’t love me anymore. I guess they saw my weakness,†she said. “Their attention made me feel good.â€
Mitchell said she just brought home-baked biscuits in for the pair, saying she was nervous that she’d get caught, but said she never did. “They were supposed to check bags,†she said.
Mitchell said the two men soon began asking for more than biscuits, demanding the tools they needed to escape. “I’m like, ‘I can’t get you that,’†she recalled saying.
Mitchell said she only gave in when Richard Matt threatened to hurt her husband, Lloyd.
“Everybody tells me I’m way too nice,†she said. “I guess I got a little too comfortable.â€
Mitchell is facing up to seven years in jail, when she’s sentenced later this month.
“It’s nerve-racking because it’s not some place I ever expected to be,†she said. “I did wrong, I deserved to be punished, but people need to know that I was only trying to save my family.â€
New leader ... Malcolm Turnbull has ousted Tony Abbott to become Australia’s new Prime Minister. Picture: Stefan Postles/Getty ImagesSource:Getty Images
IN NATIONAL NEWS
— AUSTRALIA has a new Prime Minister, Malcolm Turnbull, after he ousted Tony Abbott in a partyroom leadership ballot.
— HE certainly has a history of putting his foot in it. Here’s look at some of Tony Abbott’s most cringe-worthy moments. Onion, anyone?
— SCHAPELLE Corby has denied persistent rumours that she is pregnant during her monthly parole meeting with her parole officers in Bali.
Aussie teen Madeline Stuart walks the runway at the Hendrik Vermeulen show. Picture: Chance Yeh/Getty ImagesSource:Getty Images
Madeline Stuart prepares to strut her stuff at New York Fashion Week. Picture Alex TowleSource:News Corp Australia
IN WORLD NEWS
— AUSSIE teen Madeline Stuart, who has Down syndrome, last year declared she wanted to model at New York Fashion Week. She has finally realised her dream.
— DEFIANT Kentucky clerk Kim Davis is back at work and has promised not to stop her deputies from issuing same-sex marriage licences.
— A HISTORY professor has been killed in his office at a Mississippi university, with the campus in lockdown as police hunt the shooter.
New love ... actress Ellen Page has stepped out with her girlfriend Samantha Thomas for the first time. Picture: Nathan Denette/The Canadian Press via APSource:AP
IN SHOWBIZ NEWS
— ACTRESS Ellen Page has stepped out with her lesbian lover at the Toronto Film Festival, declaring that she is in love.
— AS he comes to terms with his daughter’s death, Bobby Brown has told a US talk show things could have been different if he’d been with Bobbi Kristina.
— A MEGA-STAR is set to replace Donald Trump as host of The Celebrity Apprentice in the US — and it might surprise you.
— IN news that blew the minds of Harry Potter fans, J.K. Rowling revealed we’ve all been mispronouncing Lord Voldemort’s name.
Brutal knockout ... Aussie boxer Michael Zerafa is knocked out by Peter Quillin during a fight at Foxwoods Resort Casino in Mashantucket, Connecticut. Picture: Billie Weiss/Getty Images/AFPSource:AFP
IN SPORTS NEWS
— AUSSIE boxer Michael Zerafa will return home after surviving an alarmingly brutal knockout that saw him carried unconscious from the ring on a stretcher.
— FOUR-time major winner and three-time Heineken Classic champion, Ernie Els, will return to Australia in November as a headline player at the Masters.
— BOBAN will have to set a modern-day weight-carrying record to win the $1 million Epsom Handicap at Randwick next month.