Murder accused Caroline Dela Rose Nilsson released on strict home detention bail

A woman accused of killing her mother-in-law has been released on home detention bail – more than two and half years after her arrest.

Caroline Dela Rose Nilsson, centre, is accused of killing her mother-in-law Myrna Nilsson in September 2016. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Naomi Jellicoe

Accused mother-in-law killer Caroline Dela Rose Nilsson has been granted release on bail, more than two and a half years after she was charged with murder and taken into custody.

Nilsson put her head in her hands when Supreme Court Justice Chris Bleby announced his decision to release her on strict home detention bail conditions, and wiped a tear from her face.

The 29-year-old appeared at the hearing via video link from the Adelaide Women’s Prison, from where she is expected to be released later on Tuesday.

Nilsson is charged with the bludgeoning murder of her mother-in-law Myrna Nilsson, 57, at the house they shared in Valley View in September 2016.

She was arrested in March 2018, about 18 months after Myrna’s death, and stood trial over nine weeks in September and October 2020. After deliberating for almost 40 hours over five days, a jury of four men and eight women could not reach a verdict and a mistrial was declared.

Nilsson will again stand trial in August next year.

Justice Bleby said the presumption in favour of bail for Nilsson had not been displaced.

“I am prepared to grant bail on strict home detention conditions,” he said.

“It’s now been well over 2.5 years since Nilsson was arrested... then this trial took some nine weeks, the jury the deliberated over five days. She is facing another eight or nine months until the next trial starts.

“By the time of her trial she will have spent in excess of 3.5 years in jail on remand. That is an extremely long time to spend in jail.”

Caroline Dela Rose Nilsson’s mother-in-law, Myrna Nilsson.

He granted Nilsson release to live on home detention bail with a couple, who are family friends, at their Ingle Farm home. One of the guarantors was required to lodge $5000 with the court, while another could offer a $5000 cash guarantee.

Conditions of her release also included that she be electronically monitored, surrender her passports and not contact a list of witnesses.

Opposing Nilsson’s release on bail, prosecutor Melissa Wilkinson said Nilsson had no job and was a flight risk with limited social ties to South Australia while her family lived overseas in the Philippines.

She said Caroline’s relationship with her husband Mark Nilsson was “punctuated by instability”.

She said the prosecution case against Nilsson was “not stagnant” and a new witness had come forward, despite previous defence claims the case was “not overwhelming”.

Defence lawyer Heath Barklay QC said his client was not a flight risk, and her husband and children lived in South Australia.

“(Nilsson) would comply with bail conditions, would comply to the letter of every single condition because of her good character and because of her wish to remain on bail,” he said.

During the trial, the jury heard Myrna was beaten to death in the laundry of their home and that data from her Apple watch showed a “flurry of activity” about 6.30pm before all movement stopped. Neighbours discovered Caroline tied up and “moaning and groaning” outside the home about 10pm.

Prosecutors alleged her version of events, including the timeline and crime scene, were staged but at trial Mr Barklay had said the evidence “didn’t fit with the picture you’ve got of this woman”.