Family accused of attempted Sefton Plaza ‘honour killing’ of daughter pleads guilty to lesser charges

A family accused of the attempted “honour killing” of their daughter and sister over forbidden love have pleaded guilty to different charges on the eve of their trial.

Police allege the woman was stabbed outside of, and kidnapped from, the Sefton Plaza shopping centre.

A family accused of attempting to “honour kill” their own daughter because she had fallen in love with a Christian have pleaded guilty to alternative charges on the eve of their trial.

The Advertiser can reveal the family, who cannot be identified, entered pleas during a Supreme Court hearing on Thursday.

Their confessions can be reported after the lifting of old suppression orders and the imposition of new ones to protect the privacy, wellbeing and ongoing safety of the victim.

The family had been scheduled to stand trial starting next week, in what was expected to be a logistically difficult matter.

The trial was expected to involve multiple translators, one for each family member and in excess of two weeks of legal argument before a jury was empanelled.

The victim’s mother outside the Adelaide Magistrates Court during an earlier appearance. Picture: NCA NewsWire

The woman’s father, 57, pleaded guilty to aggravated causing serious harm with intent and false imprisonment.

Her mother, 56, sister, 29, and brother-in-law, 28, each pleaded guilty to aggravated causing harm with intent and false imprisonment.

Her eldest brother, 31, pleaded guilty to aggravated causing harm with intent, aggravated serious criminal trespass, and false imprisonment.

Her younger brother, 26, pleaded guilty to aggravated serious criminal trespass.

Previously, prosecutors alleged the violence began in 2021, after the 26-year-old installed a tracking app on the victim’s phone.

They alleged the two brothers then broke into what they believed was the home of the victim’s boyfriend, at their mother’s direction.

The duo, they alleged, assaulted the person inside using knuckledusters demanding to know where the victim was – but they were in the wrong house.

Prosecutors alleged that, after that incident, the father, mother, brother, sister and brother-in-law stabbed the woman outside of, and kidnapped her from, the Sefton Plaza shopping centre.

They alleged the family attacked the woman with a knife during an arranged meeting, then drove her to their home and denied her medical aid.

They further alleged she nearly died from her injuries before being taken to hospital and, while recovering, had all but 17 cents drained from her bank account.

When police questioned the parents, prosecutors alleged, the 26-year-old urged them to remain silent – but their entire conversation was captured on police bodycam.

In a hearing on Friday, prosecutor Michael Foundas asked Justice Sandi McDonald to impose a permanent suppression order on the identity of the victim.

He said he understood that would also have the consequence of granting anonymity to the offenders, but felt the order was necessary regardless.

“This is very significant and serious offending that carries with it not only the stigma of being a victim but also being a victim at the hands of her entire family,” he said.

“That carries with it significant trauma that she will have to carry with her throughout the entirety of the rest of her life.”

Justice McDonald agreed, granted the suppression order and adjourned the case for sentencing submissions in December.