Angela Rita Marcus found not guilty to aiding kidnappers to hide five-year-old Grace Hughes

A Darwin mother who spent three years with a kidnapper’s accomplice allegation hanging over her head broke down in tears as a Supreme Court jury delivered its unanimous verdict.

Angela Rita Marcus was found not guilty of aiding another to commit an offence in relation to the kidnapping of five-year-old Grace Hughes. Picture: Glenn Campbell

LATEST - Tuesday July 8: A Darwin mother has been cleared of allegations she knowingly helped two kidnappers evade the law, maintaining she was oblivious to the “dramatic” snatching of a five-year-old girl.

Angela Rita Marcus broke down in tears as the Supreme Court jury handed down its unanimous ‘not guilty’ verdict, three years after she was charged with aiding another to commit an offence.

Ms Marcus was charged after five-year-old Grace Hughes was snatched from a supervised visit at the Berrimah CatholicCare centre on August 7, 2022.

Grace was missing for 13 days before she was handed back to police safe and well, spending just two nights at Ms Marcus’s Nakara home before she was taken to a remote cattle station in the Douglas Daly region.

Prosecutor Ian Read said while Grace’s mother Laura Hinks and co-conspirator Juliet Oldroyd were directly responsible for the “dramatic” abduction, he alleged Ms Marcus sheltered the missing mother and child and took them to an ‘extraction point’, before lying to police.

Defence lawyer Laurence Waugh outside the NT Supreme Court in Darwin. Picture: Zizi Averill

But defence lawyer Laurence Waugh said the case relied on Ms Marcus knowing — not merely suspecting — Grace had been taken from her father’s lawful custody against his will, and that her mother did not have lawful custody.

On Monday, Hinks told the jury the abduction was a “spur of the moment” decision, and she had not discussed anything about the incident with her housemate of two months.

Mr Waugh said there was nothing Ms Marcus would have found inherently suspicious if she had seen Hinks at home with her own daughter that Sunday evening.

“The sight of a mother and her child is an innocent one, it is not a sight that is readily associated with criminal conduct,” he said.

“Would Marcus, looking at Laura Hinks and her daughter, think: ‘My God, Laura Hinks has abducted her daughter? — Of course not.”

Convicted kidnapper Laura Adele Hinks. Picture: Pema Tamang Pakhrin

Phone records showed Ms Marcus was in communication with her friend, Oldroyd, after the kidnapping, and was advised to turn off her phone, delete all texts, and use an encrypted email.

However, the jury dismissed the prosecution’s allegations Ms Marcus was the “the point of communication” between the two kidnappers, rather than a “passive or inactive bystander”.

Ms Marcus also drove Hinks and Grace to a rural home 30 minutes out of Darwin, and they were then driven by another person to a remote cattle station in the Douglas Daly region.

Alleged kidnapper's accomplice Angela Marcus attempted to shield herself while leaving the NT Supreme Court in Darwin following the first day of her trail. Picture: Zizi Averill

Five days after the kidnapping, NT Police Child Abuse Taskforce detectives knocked on Ms Marcus’s door with a search warrant.

The Darwin mother lied to police and denied any knowledge of the missing girl’s location or movements, stating: “I’ve heard things about Grace on the radio … but why would you be here?”

Mr Read said this was “significantly disingenuous” and clearly just her “playing dumb”.

But Mr Waugh said there were multiple explanations for why she may have lied — including that she just didn’t want to get involved, believed it was none of her business, or she was simply resentful after the police search of her home.

After two days of evidence it took the 12-person jury just 105 minutes to find Ms Marcus not guilty, determining it had not been proven beyond a reasonable doubt Ms Marcus knew the little girl had been kidnapped.

As she left the dock, Ms Marcus huddled over in tears before being embraced by three supporters and hugging both her lawyer and court security staff.

Jury told alleged kidnappers’ accomplice gave cops a ‘bum steer’

INITIAL, 5pm Monday, July 7: A Darwin woman who allegedly harboured two fugitives in her home and gave police a “bum steer” during a search for a kidnapped little girl has faced a Supreme Court jury.

On Monday Angela Rita Marcus pleaded not guilty to aiding another to commit an offence, after it was alleged she sheltered Laura Adele Hinks and Juliet Marie Oldroyd after the pair kidnapped five-year-old Grace Hughes

Grace’s mother Hinks and Oldroyd abducted the little girl from a supervised visit at the Berrimah CatholicCare centre on August 7, 2022, sparking a 13-day missing persons search for the child.

Angela Rita Marcus faces the Supreme Court in Darwin. Picture: Pema Tamang Pakhrin

The jury heard that Hinks and Grace spent a few nights at Ms Marcus’ home, before they were driven out to a remote cattle station in the Douglas Daly region.

Ms Marcus has denied she was ever an ‘accomplice’ to the kidnapping plot, as she was never aware that the other two women had committed a crime.

Alleged kidnapper's accomplice Angela Marcus attempted to shield herself while leaving the NT Supreme Court in Darwin following the first day of her trail. Picture: Zizi Averill

Prosecutor Ian Reed alleged not only did the then 48-year-old knowingly help the two women hide-out in her home with the missing child, but also lied to police during a search of her Nakara home.

Mr Read alleged Ms Marcus “obstructed and delayed” the search for the young girl, by denying that Grace had been at her home, and feigning ignorance outside of hearing “stuff on the radio”.

“The lies are in the nature of what might be colloquially called a ‘bum steer’ ,” Mr Read said.

“The reason Angela Marcus lied to police was because she knew that by having Laura and her daughter stay, she was doing the wrong thing and she was assisting in the abduction.”

“She knew that by telling the truth, she would be in trouble.”

Crown prosecutor Ian Read outside the Supreme Court in Darwin on November 14, 2024. Picture: Zizi Averill

From the witness stand, Hinks told the jury she had been living at Ms Marcus’ Nakara home in the weeks before the kidnapping.

The Darwin mother told the jury that at the time she did not believe she had broken the law by taking her child, repeating that she did not have “criminal intent” and that the kidnapping was “completely on a whim” and a “spur of the moment” decision.

Indeed after snatching her daughter, Hinks said the three of them had a picnic and a swim “out bush” before returning to Ms Marcus’s place hours later.

The jury heard that Hinks had not seen her children for eight months after making allegations against their father, which were completely cleared by a police investigation.

“You hadn’t got your way with the … court, and you were simply taking the law into your own hands,” Prosecutor Ian Read said.

“No I was acting protectively,” Hinks said.

Laura Adele Hinks approaching the Supreme Court in Darwin. Picture: Pema Tamang Pakhrin

Hinks maintained that there was never any discussion, concerns raised, or questions asked by Ms Marcus when she suddenly returned to her Nakara home with a five-year-old girl in tow.

“I didn’t have any discussions with Angela about what had occurred,” she said.

Mr Read said if Hinks believed she had not broken the law, there would have been no reason for the 34-year-old and her daughter to then drive out to the remote cattle station.

“I was instructed to go somewhere else. I trusted that Juliet (Oldroyd) had a plan, that help was coming, that someone was coming to help us within the system,” she said.

The trial continues on Tuesday.