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WOONSOCKET, R.I. (WPRI) — The twin sisters accused of stabbing their father to death earlier this year appeared in court Tuesday as a judge weighs whether to release them on bail.
Jennifer and Danielle Pamula, 38, have each been charged with murder in connection with the death of 70-year-old Joseph Pamula.
Officers rushed to their Cato Street home back in January after Danielle called 911 and told the dispatcher she woke up from a nap to find her father dead on the kitchen floor with a pair of garden shears sticking out of his neck. Danielle also reportedly found her sister unconscious on the living room floor with a bottle of pills next to her.
The officers found Jennifer in the living room covered in blood and what appeared to be vomit. When one of the officers asked her if she was OK, Jennifer allegedly uttered, “I had to do it.”
Jennifer was brought to Landmark Medical Center to be treated for a suspected overdose, according to prosecutors.
While speaking with detectives at the hospital, Jennifer admitted she hit her father over the head with a gargoyle statue because he was attacking her.
“He just kept coming at me,” she recalled in the interview, which was played aloud in court. “He was trying to hit me.”
“He was like, ‘I own this house, you’re going to lose everyone, and I’m going to make sure of it,’” Jennifer said in the hospital interview.
Jennifer also described her father as being “like a demon.”
“I didn’t even think it was my dad anymore,” she explained.
Danielle previously told investigators that her sister had been arguing with their father, who reportedly claimed he wanted to sell the house and get rid of their 12 cats. She was arrested nearly a month later after detectives learned she had admitted to being involved in her father’s death, though the extent of her involvement is unclear.
Detective James Dybala, who responded to the Pamula home that night, described the residence as “deplorable and uninhabitable,” adding that there were numerous cats in cages stacked to the ceiling.
“It was littered with anything possible you could imagine,” Dybala said in court Tuesday.
Prosecutors shared numerous graphic images from inside the home in court, which showed the garden shears, the stone gargoyle statue, and a handwritten note that read, “My confession is on my phone” followed by the four-digit code to unlock the device, which was placed next to it.
It’s unclear at this time which sister wrote the note.
The sisters have been held without bail since their respective arrests.
The hearing is scheduled to continue on Wednesday.
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