The Brutal Murder of Pirjo
Kempannein by a 14-year-old boy
“My wishes are killing more and more people, I wish
I had a catapult that would hit someone on the head and then they would all be
dead!” – Would you believe these words sprang from the mouth of a
seven-year-old boy talking to a psychologist?
It wouldn’t be too long until this young boy got his
wish to kill; when, at the age of 14, he murdered pensioner Pirjo Kemppainen,
bashing her, and stabbing her over 120 times.
This
young man, whose identity has been suppressed due to his age, is only
identified as “B” in newspaper stories and court documents.
B was
born in August 1996. Not long after his birth, his parents separated. By the age
of seven, he was watching violent horror movies, and by the age of ten
pornography. He had a lifelong love of video games with extreme violence. (He was
quoted during his trial as saying with the extreme enthusiasm of a teenage boy "In
Gears of War, you can cut people in half with your gun (which) has a
chainsaw on it, you can blow people in half with a shotgun, strap grenades to
people, use people as human shields, pretty well make mincemeat out of
people.”)
B was
obsessed with death and violence and was quoted as saying "I was obsessed
about killing
 |
| 62-year-old former nurse, Ms Pirjo Kempannein |
people - from Year 1 to Year 8, I've just had thoughts about
killing people. I still think about it."
B and his
friend “A”, who was also his co-accused, (referred to as A in court
documentation) were inseparable for the most part. They spent a lot of time at
B’s dad's house on weekends playing video games. When they weren’t playing
games, they would terrorise neighbours in the Callington area, by throwing
rocks on people's roofs, and causing general mischief.
A few
days before the murder, B said to his teacher "How good would it be to see
someone die?"
"I'm
gonna stab someone, I wish I had a gun ... how good would it be to see someone
being shot?"
The
school arranged a psychological appointment, but it never happened, as
resources in the area were sparse. Only a day later, B was seen to be staring
at a child across the playground at school. B was heard to say “I hate that kid
and I’m going to kill him!” before sprinting across the playground and punching
the kid in the head.
B was
suspended from the school, and upon his punishment, he stated to the teachers
"If
you do this, people will die."
A day
later he brutally attacked and killed Ms Kemppainen.
A
Forensic Psychologist, Dr Luke Broomhill, began working with B during his stay
in prison leading up to his trial. He
assessed the teenager as having mild retardation and year 2 intellectual
function. He stated that B was unable to compute alternative solutions to
problems and that if he had something he wanted to achieve, he could not
discern the consequences of his actions.
B’s
aggressive nature began to manifest distinctly after his Father moved to
Kanmantoo in the Adelaide Hills when his mother moved interstate.
An incident occurred at the new house where some local boys knocked over the
bin outside of B‘s house; B’s reaction was to grab a meat cleaver and wave it
at the youths.
This caused friction with his Father’s partner, who chastised the boy, his
reply "I should have capped their motherfucking asses."
His Father’s relationship broke down, and eventually, the family moved to
Callington, where B became the subject of bullying.
 |
| Ms Pirjo Kempannein's house in Callington where her brutal murder occured. |
THE
MURDER (WARNING “GRAPHIC CONTENT" )
With no
guilt in his voice and not an iota of remorse, B recounted the events of Ms
Kemppainen’s death, as he remembered it, to the court.
"I
walked up to the victim's house alone, walked up to the sliding door and the
victim came out through the wooden door, she asked why I had thrown the rock
(through her sliding door window). I said I was drunk and I put the knife in
her stomach." B then paused to mime the action.
"I
tried to stab her twice in the stomach and then I repeatedly stabbed her in the
head, she tried to hold her arms up to keep me from stabbing her, she was
screaming. She was about to shut the door on me, so I threw the rock at her
door," B recalled calmly.
"It
was a big chunk of rock, about 30cm across. I ran through the door and
continued to stab her until she was on the floor making no sound. The last
thing I did was throw the slab of concrete at her head,"
“I felt
like God,” he said.
According
to forensic reports, B had inflicted 58 stab wounds in total on Ms Kemppainen and struck her 69 times with the concrete rocks. Strikes had been so ferocious, that they had left gouge marks in the victim’s skull.
B was
arrested 3 days after the brutal crime. More evidence of the youth's troubled
mind came to the surface during the court case with evidence put forward of
talks to guards and his psychological assessors, where B had stated
"If I had my phone I could've gotten away with it, I could've gone in (to
the house) and said `oh, there's a dead body.' I would have gotten $100 or $500
for finding a dead body."
THE COURT CASE
A, B’s co-accused
was eventually acquitted by a jury, as the evidence against him, most of which
was supplied by B, was unreliable, or did not make sense
B was sentenced to life in prison with a non-parole period of 15 years, which
means he can be released from gaol in September 2025, at the age of 29.
A teenage murderer will have the rest of
his life ahead of him, but for the 62-year-old pensioner: death; and her family
having to live with the brutality of the murder.
B was
transferred from youth detention in 2015 to Yatala Gaol to serve the rest of
his term. He was charged with an assault in youth detention and is said to have
exhausted his options in regard to rehabilitation.
researched and written by Allen Tiller © 2017
www.allentiller.com.au
Bibliography
Fewster S, 2012, Youth
who confessed to killing Callington nurse Pirjo Kemppainen jailed for at least
15 years, Perth Now, viewed 6 Mar 2017, http://www.perthnow.com.au/news/youth-who-confessed-to-killing-callington-nurse-pirjo-kemppainen-jailed-for-at-least-15-years/news-story/c6259982fea2275d75fa4b3d5b1983fe
Fewster S, 2013, Inside
the mind of the teen killer who murdered Pirjo Kemppainen, The Advertiser,
viewed 6 Mar 2017, http://www.adelaidenow.com.au/news/south-australia/inside-the-mind-of-the-teen-killer-who-murdered-pirjo-kemppainen/news-story/f66d17e2a8622c91293c397434bd4a2d
Fewster, S, 2015, SA
court authorises transfer of teen who killed Pirjo Kemppainen to adult prison
to serve out sentence, The Advertiser, viewed 6 Mar 2017, http://www.adelaidenow.com.au/news/south-australia/sa-court-authorises-transfer-of-teen-who-killed-pirjo-kemppainen-to-adult-prison-to-serve-out-sentence/news-story/0279aa9b2ee25bcd54014f57fe3b1f97
Grace L 2014, The Most Notorious Crimes that Shook and
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