Grace Hughes’ alleged kidnapper Juliet Oldroyd fresh bail attempt following texts to police

An alleged child kidnapper’s attempts to barter with police have been described as ”extraordinary” by a Supreme Court judge.

An alleged kidnapper started to cry as she described the pain of being separated from her own children while behind bars.

Juliet Marie Oldroyd, 50, appeared in the Supreme Court to reapply for bail, after losing her freedom for allegedly sending threats to police.

The 50-year-old woman is one of five people charged over the alleged kidnapping of Darwin five-year-old Grace Hughes in August.

Police said Grace was taken from a supervised parental visit in Berrimah on Sunday, August 7.

It was alleged a group was claiming to have helped abduct and hide the child and her mother, Laura Hinks, who were missing for 12 days until Grace was handed into police.

Oldroyd was granted bail, but lost it after allegedly sending a barrage of 4am texts to an officer only four days after being released from prison.

Juliet Marie Oldroyd, 50, been charged with abducting five-year-old Grace Hughes from Darwin.

She was hit with new charges of attempting to pervert the course of justice and making threats against an officer involved in a criminal investigation, on top of her previous charge of child abduction.

Oldroyd represented herself as she stood before Justice Peter Barr on September 15.

Her voice shook as she asked the court to grant her bail once again and described her sadness at being away from her children, including missing her son’s 12th birthday.

Oldroyd said she was “not thinking rationally” when she messaged the investigating officer.

“I was in a really, really high state of trauma and I hadn’t slept for the two weeks while I was in prison,” she said.

“No more than one or two hours a night.”

Oldroyd argued the texts — which allegedly contained the threat “I’ll bury you” — were not an explicit violation of her bail agreement.

Prosecutor Ian Read said her bail agreement was irrelevant, as the charges were for the allegedly “ill-advised” and “bravado” threatening texts.

“It caused quite some disquiet for the officer,” Mr Read said.

“Although the applicant might say that she’s never hurt him, the abduction allegations … are a violent and traumatic event not only for the child abducted but also for the father.”

Juliet Marie Oldroyd, 50, been charged with abducting five-year-old Grace Hughes from Darwin.

Oldroyd told the court that while Grace was missing she had attempted to barter with police, offering to show them the five-year-old in exchange for police not putting out a missing person’s alert.

“That’s extraordinary, you wanted to get the police to get you an undertaking that they wouldn’t do their job properly?” Mr Barr said.

Oldroyd also told the court her physical and mental health had suffered behind bars.

She said she was having daily panic attacks, “but because the prison is so understaffed and so much under pressure, I still haven’t been able to see a counsellor”.

“And it may take months because of the backlog.”

Laura Hinks, 34, and her five-year-old daughter Grace Hughes were reported missing for 12 days in August.

Oldroyd said she could not access medical services for a number of chronic conditions, with an upcoming MRI scan appointment potentially being pushed back six months to a year because of prison waiting lists.

“That’s causing me high anxiety because I still have severe symptoms of nausea and pain,” Oldroyd said.

“I lost control of my bladder whilst in prison - I completely lost my entire bladder and I also had shortness of breath and difficulty breathing.”

Justice Barr ordered a “strict term” bail assessment for Oldroyd, which if granted could include a substantial surety, electronic monitoring, a condition that she stay at home, and a ban on using the internet.

“My kids have already stopped me from using any devices anyway, because they said I wasn’t trustworthy,” Ms Oldroyd said.

Oldroyd will return to court on Wednesday September 28, when a bail decision will be made.