Woman charged with six counts of rape appears in Toowoomba court via videolink from prison

The woman, aged in her 40s, appeared in court via videolink from prison on six charges of rape. See what happened in court here.

A woman in her 40s has appeared before Toowoomba Magistrates Court charged with six counts of rape.

The woman, who cannot be named for legal reasons, made her first appearance in court on the charges on Tuesday via videolink from the women’s prison.

Her solicitor Alysha Jacobsen, of Bouchier Khan Lawyers, told the court these six fresh charges were related to other matters for which her client was already before the District Court.

The woman, her ex-partner and a 20-year-old woman are each accused of making and distributing child exploitation material involving the older woman’s teenager daughter at the then family home in the Lockyer Valley.

Toowoomba Courthouse

When the trio initially appeared in the same court in August 2022, it was claimed a breakdown in the older woman’s relationship with the man, in his 30s, and a domestic violence complaint allegedly uncovered the man’s degrading behaviour in pressuring his then partner and her children into making child exploitation material by claiming the Australian Federal Police wanted the images.

The matters came to light when the older woman went to police to take out a domestic violence application against the man and during that process the alleged child sex offences were revealed.

The man and the older woman have been held in custody since their arrest in August 2022 while the 20-year-old woman remains on bail with strict conditions.

Ms Jacobsen said the woman’s other charges were already committed for trial in the higher court and asked for a full brief of evidence on the six counts of rape.

Magistrate Clare Kelly ordered the full brief of evidence be disclosed by the prosecution to defence by October 31 and adjourned the case for mention back in the same court on November 14 with the woman remanded in custody.