Bail release plea of heavily pregnant accused teen 4 days before baby due
The heavily pregnant teen girl accused of a bizarre car boot kidnap has to wait to learn if she will be freed on bail four days before she gives birth.
The heavily pregnant teen girl accused in a bizarre car boot kidnap has to wait to see if she will be freed on bail tomorow, four days before she gives birth.
Latia Henderson, 19 - who has been in custody on remand for more than six months since her arrest when she was 14 weeks pregnant – remain dry-eyed as she appeared from Dillwynia women’s prison in western Sydney.
Dressed in a prison green sweat shirt and jacket, her long hair a dark brown, Ms Henderson appeared via audio visual link before Justice Stephen Campbell.
The NSW Supreme Court judge reserved his decision on whether or not to release her until midday on Friday.
If he refuses her bail, she will be taken to hospital to give birth and then her newborn will be taken from her when she is returned to prison.
Ms Henderson and her co-accused Kayley Ketley, 24, were arrested in February when police stopped their Commodore near Berrima – southwest of Sydney – and found Nisha Phillips, 24, in the sedan’s boot with stab wounds.
Police allege Ms Phillips was kidnapped, stabbed and driven while bleeding in the car boot toward the notorious Belanglo State Forest before a truck driver saw her hand waving through a smashed tail light.
Police laid several charges against the Ms Henderson and Ms Ketley, including take, detain in company with intent to get advantage occasioning actual bodily harm.
Neither accused has entered any pleas to the charges.
Justice Campbell and Ms Henderson’s lawyer, Bernadette O’Reilly, both described the charges as very serious and the crown case against the accused as “strong”.
Arguing against her release on bail, crown prosecutor Rossi Kotsis outlined Ms Henderson’s turbulent history which included drug taking and drinking alcohol.
Ms O’Reilly said Ms Henderson came from “an incredibly unstable background” and had an “ongoing issue with grief”.
She described Ms Henderson as a “very dear friend” of shooting victim, Brayden Dillon, who was killed aged 15 as he slept by a paid hit man in an alleged revenge killing in 2019.
Ms Henderson’s half sister Indy, 3, died in 2016 after a 425kg monument inscribed with “Lest we Forget” fell on her during her grandmother’s 50th birthday at a Taree bowling club.
Ms O’Reilly said that while she had been in custody, Ms Henderson had not taken drugs, drunk alcohol, hadn’t talked back to prison officers and had been a “model” inmate.
Ms Henderson was also charged with take and drive conveyance without consent of owner.
Ms O’Reilly said court delays due to Covid-19 lockdown restrictions meant that if the matter went to trial it would be much delayed.
Back in April, shocking videos of the two accused singing rap songs in selfie car videos while their alleged kidnap victim lay stabbed and bleeding in the boot were played in court.
The videos show Ms Henderson and Ms Ketley filming themselves driving a vehicle allegedly belonging to of Nisha Phillips in the direction of Belanglo Forest.
Police allege Ms Phillips bled in the boot from multiple stab wounds during the drive.
Ms Phillips was rescued from the car after a truck driver noticed her hand waving through the broken tail light of the white Holden Commodore as it drove erratically down the Hume Highway.
Campbelltown Local Court in April was also played CCTV of the car stopping at a McDonald’s, and at Campbelltown Mall where Ms Ketley allegedly stabbed Ms Phillips a further five times.
Magistrate David Degnan said Ms Phillips must have been in “terror” after Ms Ketley taunted her about not being dead, saying, “Oh you are still alive, what a shame.”
Ms Ketley is also charged with wounding with intent to cause grievous bodily harm, possession of cannabis and driving while disqualified.
According to police facts tendered at Campbelltown Local Court, the two accused and the alleged victim had known each other for a short period prior to February 2 when the alleged ordeal began.
Around 11.31am on February 3, motorists noticed Ms Phillips’ white Commodore “driving erratically” on the highway and a truck driver called Triple-0 about seeing a hand waving from the punched-in tail light.
Police stopped the Commodore near Medway Road, around 150km south of Sydney.
In the car they allegedly found a 30cm black-handled knife with Ms Ketley’s fingerprints on the blade and handle and a small amount of cannabis.
Police found Ms Phillips in the boot with stab wounds to the right thigh and left knee, and four wounds in her left shoulder, which was dislocated.
Police allege in court documents that in her police interview, Ms Ketley denied stabbing Ms Phillips and said she didn’t know the alleged victims had been in the car.
Ms Phillips was taken to Liverpool Hospital and treated for non-life threatening injuries.
Ms Henderson’s mother told media in April her daughter is “not guilty”.