Carly Pirronelli: Dark past of the young woman who stabbed her own mother Joanne Perry to death before being gunned down by cops is revealed – as it emerges the pair had once joked about what their graves would look like

The young woman who stabbed her mother to death before being shot dead by police had a troubled past, including home burglaries and drug charges.

Joanne Perry, 53, died Friday evening when she was stabbed multiple times in the neck and chest by her daughter Carly Pirronelli, 26.

Officers were called to Kett St in Lower Plenty, 16km northeast of the Melbourne CBD, about 6.30pm on Friday following reports that Pirronelli wanted to set her mother on fire.

Upon arrival, officers said they were challenged by Pirronelli, who was armed with a knife and, despite being told to drop the weapon, continued to plunge the knife into her mother’s torso and neck.

Pirronelli, who was on bail on an unrelated matter and the subject of an apprehended violence warrant, was shot by a police officer and died at the scene.

Just over a year ago she appeared in the Melbourne Magistrates Court charged with home invasion.

She allegedly entered a house in Kingsbury in the company of one or more people on February 21, 2023, while another person was in the house.

It was further alleged that Pirronelli entered the Lowell Avenue home with ‘the intention of assaulting a person’ and she was also charged with cannabis possession.

The home invasion charges were eventually dropped in August after prosecutors withdrew their case.

Magistrate Belinda Franjic said only the cannabis possession charge would be prosecuted.

The magistrate said she took into account Pirronelli’s “lack of prior conviction or findings of guilt.”

“The criminal charge, the residential burglary charge, has been dropped by the prosecutor,” she said.

Before the horrific double tragedy, the mother and daughter appeared to have a close and happy relationship.

In photos posted to their social media profiles, they can be seen smiling broadly with their arms around each other.

On one occasion they even joked about what their graves would look like.

Pirronelli tagged her mother in the comments section of a Facebook post that showed a grave with cannabis plants growing out of it and the caption “What my grave will look like.”

“Next to your cascade bottles (and) marks guitar,” Pironelli wrote with a smiley face emoji.

“OMG haha,” her mother responded.

Speaking about the shooting of Pirronelli, Acting Chief Inspector of Victoria Police Scott Colson said the officer had “no choice” but to fire his firearm.

“It’s a terrible situation,” he said. “They (police) don’t go to work expecting to draw their firearms and be involved in these types of tragedies.”

Chief Inspector Scott Colson said he felt “comfortable” with the officer’s actions when confronted with the “terrible situation.”

“(Police) were confronted with the daughter stabbing the mother and called on the daughter to drop the knife,” he said.

“However, she continued to stab the mother… tragically, both the mother and daughter died at the scene.”

Neighbors said they heard several gunshots on the usually quiet street during the incident.

It is understood there were other people in the house at the time of the fatal attack, but the triple-O call came from neighbors.

In a statement, Victoria Police said they were not looking for anyone else in connection with the incident.

Detectives from the Homicide Unit will investigate the incident under the supervision of the Professional Standards Command, which is standard protocol when a police firearm is discharged.

Ms Perry is the 17th woman killed in Australia this year and the fourth this month.

According to the Australian Femicide Watch, there have been two femicides per week since the start of the year.