Laura Hinks’ in bid to have daughter kidnap case thrown out ‘on jurisdictional grounds’
Lawyers for Laura Hinks say she should not be prosecuted for the alleged kidnapping of her five-year-old daughter. Read why they say the case should be thrown out.
Northern Territory
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Lawyers for a Darwin woman accused of kidnapping her five-year-old daughter will seek to have the charges thrown out “on jurisdictional grounds and a question of law”.
Laura Adele Hinks, 35, was charged with the little girl’s abduction after what the Darwin Local Court has previously heard was a “violent” struggle after a supervised parental visit in August last year.
On Monday, Ms Hinks’ lawyer, Glenn Mohammed, told Chief Judge Elizabeth Morris he would seek a stay of the prosecution.
Mr Mohammed said the charge was based on an order of another court which the law required be dealt with in that jurisdiction.
“Instead, what we have here is a charge under the Territory law of abduction,” he said.
Mr Mohammed said his arguments would span “four different grounds” and would likely take about an hour.
But Ms Morris said she wasn’t sure whether the arguments would amount to grounds for a stay “or a defence to the charge” and either way, would “take much longer than an hour”.
“Our people on bail hearings are currently out till August, but given there are children involved in relation to this, not necessarily as witnesses, I think I need to give it some priority,” she said.
Prosecutor Ian Read SC said Monday’s hearing was the first time he had heard of the application, which “if it does have legs”, could bear on several other co-defendants charged over the alleged abduction.
Ms Morris ordered Mr Mohammed to file his submissions before the case returns to court on February 27 when a hearing date could potentially be set.
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Originally published as Laura Hinks’ in bid to have daughter kidnap case thrown out ‘on jurisdictional grounds’
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