Woman accused of trying to incite parents' murder granted day bail to deal with squatter issues at her property

A woman accused of trying to hire a hitman over the dark web to murder her parents has been granted day bail so she can deal with issues at her property, as she suspects squatters have gotten up to illegal activity there while she’s been in custody.

The 28-year-old was originally charged with attempted murder, but those charges have now been dropped and she is facing charges of incitement to murder, as well as others, to which she has pleaded not guilty.

It is alleged she accessed her parents’ bank accounts without their permission in September 2020, transferred $35,000 to her own account, then used the dark web to go onto a forum called the Sinaloa Cartel, according to court documents.

Along with advertisements for “high-quality drugs, guns, and professional assault services at affordable costs”, the forum also said, “We can kill any person you want”.

The woman allegedly made a post saying she was willing to pay $20,000 for a hitman to murder her parents and she would receive an inheritance when they died.

An alleged agreement was made with the forum’s admin for her to pay $10,000 upfront in the cryptocurrency Bitcoin for the murder, then the rest when she received her inheritance.

Between September and October 2020, it is alleged the woman transferred about $7500 from her accounts into Bitcoin and sent this to the Sinaloa Cartel’s account.

The documents allege that the woman’s financial situation had deteriorated in the years leading up to the alleged incident and by September 2020 she had just $2.36 in her bank accounts.

Her parents’ estate was worth $8 million and would have been distributed to their children upon their deaths. While they did not tell their children the exact amounts they would inherit, the Crown alleged the daughter still knew she would benefit financially if they died.

On Thursday (17 November), Justice Mossop told the ACT Supreme Court that the documents contained “very serious allegations arising in very unusual circumstance”.

The woman was appearing in the court and smiled at a person in the court’s gallery before launching her application to be released from custody on day bail.

The court heard she wanted bail for a single day so she and a real estate agent could take the steps to secure and vacate a property she owned and had a mortgage for so it was not occupied without her consent and could eventually be put into a state for it to be rented out.

Justice Mossop said that during her incarceration, it appeared the property had been occupied without her consent by other people and she suspected anti-social and illegal activity had been taking place there.

The justice said due to the limited amount of time sought and her purpose for getting out of prison there were special circumstances to favour granting bail.

Bail was granted for 22 November, with conditions including she be taken to the property, not to have a device capable of accessing the internet and not contact her parents.

The woman had been committed to the Supreme Court for trial earlier this year, but a trial date is yet to be set.

While she was granted bail in April 2021, she was taken back into custody that July for breaching it. She was later released, but broke bail again in December 2021 and was taken back to jail.

The woman and her parents legally cannot be named. She is also fighting charges of burglary, theft and money laundering.