NT station owners Annette, Phillip Howie charged in Grace Hughes kidnapping saga
A Katherine region couple has been charged with the alleged kidnapping of a five-year-old Darwin girl.
Police & Courts
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The owners of a remote cattle station have been accused of kidnapping a Darwin five-year-old.
Annette and Philip James Howie appeared in Darwin Local Court for the first time over the alleged abduction of five-year-old Grace Hughes.
The Katherine-region couple arrived in a dusty grey four-wheel drive bearing customised “Maneroo” plates, from their Douglas Daly region cattle Station.
In a hearing lasting less than a minute, Judge Alan Woodcock adjourned their case to November 14.
The 69-year-old man and his 67-year-old wife were both charged with abducting a child under the age of 16.
The Howies were among five people charged over the 12 day disappearance of Grace in August.
Police said the five-year-old was taken from a supervised parental visit in Berrimah on Sunday, August 7.
Grace and her mother Laura Adele Hinks were not seen for almost two weeks.
It will be alleged the Howies became involved in the kidnapping two days after Grace was taken, with their charges dated from Tuesday August 9 till Friday August 19.
Police said Grace was eventually handed in to Darwin police by a person allegedly connected to the fringe conspiracy.
Hinks and alleged conspiracy theorist Juliet Marie Oldroyd were charged with abducting a child under the age of 16.
Hink’s lawyer Matthew Hubber asked Judge Thomasin Opie for an adjournment to December 7.
Oldroyd also appeared before Chief Judge Elizabeth Morris on Wednesday.
The 50-year-old faces additional charges for allegedly sending a barrage of 4am texts to an officer only four days after being released from prison.
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.
Oldroyd’s case was adjourned to December 5 for a directions hearing.
The fifth alleged conspirator, Angela Marcus, 48, was charged for allegedly helping the group hide the five-year-old in the immediate wake of her disappearance.
Marcus was initially charged with kidnapping, but it was downgraded to aiding another to commit an offence.
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