Pregnant teen Latia Henderson seeks bail five days before due date

A pregnant 19-year-old charged with kidnapping faces an anxious wait to discover if she will give birth in custody or be released on bail.

A teenage mum-to-be who allegedly kidnapped a woman, stuffed her in a car boot and headed for Belanglo State Forest faces an anxious overnight wait to discover if she will give birth in custody and have her child removed or be able to care for her newborn on bail.

Latia Henderson, 19, has spent the last six months in prison on remand after her arrest for the alleged kidnapping of Nisha Phillips in the southwest Sydney suburb of Claymore in February.

She is due to give birth in five days, a situation that hung heavy over Ms Henderson’s bail application in the NSW Supreme Court on Thursday.

The teenager appeared in court by video link from Dillwynia women’s prison, dressed in an oversized prison green shirt and leggings, with her long hair loose and parted down the middle.

Police allege she was driving a white Holden Commodore with co-accused Kayley Ketley, 24, in the passenger seat when officers pulled over the car at about 11.30am on February 3 and discovered a bleeding and wounded Ms Phillips in the boot.

It is alleged the pair had held Ms Phillips captive for more than 12 hours, their journey down the Hume Highway only interrupted when a truck driver spotted a hand waving out of a broken tail light on a passing car and called police.

Latia Henderson was allegedly driving the white car with a wounded Nisha Phillips in the boot. Picture: Facebook.

Crown prosecutor Rossi Kotsis said on Thursday Ms Henderson should stay locked up, her dismal record offering no confidence she would show up for court or behave while on bail.

But her barrister Bernadette O’Reilly said the 19-year-old’s status as a soon-to-be mother and six months in prison had been the “catalyst” for a new attitude.

“The birth of that child, which will irrevocably change her life, is in itself enough to satisfy the court she will not be out and about when the baby is born committing further offences,” Ms O’Reilly said.

Justice Stephen Campbell said in response Ms Henderson was 14 weeks pregnant at the time of the alleged kidnapping.

“Carrying the child at that time didn’t seem to make any difference whatsoever, either to her lifestyle or willingness to engage in this apparently very serious offending,” he said.

If Ms Henderson gave birth in custody, the department of communities and justice had arranged for the baby to go into the care of her grandmother, the court was told.

Justice Stephen Campbell said he thought newborns were not removed from their imprisoned mothers for some months after birth, but Ms O’Reilly told him that was not correct.

“It would be immediate,” she said. “Once Ms Henderson is well enough to return to jail after the birth, it would be removed.”

Ms Henderson was ineligible for a program allowing mothers to care for their babies in custody as she was on remand, Ms O’Reilly said.

Kayley Ketley was allegedly in the passenger seat.

The alleged victim Nisha Phillips. Picture: Facebook

The barrister added that Ms Henderson came from an “incredibly unstable background, one that was fraught with domestic violence”.

She was also dealing with “ongoing issues of grief” around the 2017 murder of her close friend Brayden Dillon, who was 15 when he was shot dead in his bed in a revenge gangland killing, and the death of her half-sister some years ago, Ms O’Reilly said.

Mr Kotsis described the alleged offending as “extraordinarily serious” and said Ms Henderson “knew she was driving the vehicle towards a notoriously known remote place, the Belanglo State Forest”.

But Justice Campbell said despite the “infamy” of the forest — where serial killer Ivan Milat murdered seven backpackers in the early 1990s — he could only make the decision based on the case against Ms Henderson.

Ms Henderson did not speak, other than to confirm she was having a natural birth.

Justice Campbell said it was a “very serious matter” and he would think it through overnight.

He will hand down his decision on Friday at noon.

Originally published as Pregnant teen Latia Henderson seeks bail five days before due date