Canberra woman accused of dark web murder plot back behind bars

Police arrested the 26-year-old, who cannot be named for legal reasons, outside a Watson house notorious for its criminal connections about 3.25am on Friday.

The woman, who had agreed to bail conditions that required her to stay at home between 8pm and 7am, was spotted sitting in a car.

When the woman appeared in the ACT Magistrates Court some seven hours later, defence lawyer Adrian McKenna conceded she had been "quite stupid".

Mr McKenna asked that the woman be given "a stern warning" and released, noting authorities were waiting for overseas entities to provide what is considered crucial evidence and the 26-year-old might spend more than two years in custody before standing trial.

He told the court his client had gone out after receiving a phone call from a friend she had met in jail prior to being granted bail in late April.

He said this friend, identified as known criminal Kaylah Cook, had apparently hurt her leg and asked the woman to come and help her.

However, prosecutor Christina Muthurajah said Cook was nowhere to be found when police arrested the defendant.

"It is a flagrant breach of the bail conditions, being out at 3.30 in the morning," she said in arguing for the woman's bail to be revoked.

Ms Muthurajah said it was the second time the 26-year-old had breached the curfew condition since being released from the Alexander Maconochie Centre just two months ago.

But Mr McKenna said his client had in fact been home on the first occasion, and had simply failed to hear police at the door.

The court on Friday heard police suspected the 26-year-old had been using her time on conditional liberty to commit crimes, including parcel thefts, for which she was likely to be charged.

First Constable Shannon Pugsley, of ACT Policing, told the court police also had reason to believe the woman had been accessing the internet for purposes not permitted by her bail conditions.

"Our concerns lie in the fact that the original offences the defendant was charged with were internet-based," the officer said.

First Constable Pugsley went on to say investigators were worried about the woman's level of debt, which was believed to be "the catalyst" for her allegedly seeking to have her parents killed.

Court documents show the woman, who has pleaded not guilty to six charges including attempted murder, stood to inherit more than $2.5 million from her "prominent Canberran" parents if the pair died.

She is accused of burgling their house and stealing money from them in September last year, before allegedly arranging to pay someone calling themselves "Juan" $20,000 for murders that would be made to look like accidents.

The woman allegedly gave "Juan", who detectives believe to be a scam artist, more than $6000 worth of Bitcoin before the site she was using to contact him vanished from the dark web.

Chief Magistrate Lorraine Walker ultimately revoked bail on Friday, saying the woman was accused of serious offences and her explanation for the "blatant" breach was "not plausible".

She also said the prosecuting authorities had done all they possibly could to address the likely delay in the defendant standing trial.

"The balance has shifted back against the grant of bail," Ms Walker said.

The 26-year-old woman is due to face court again next month.

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