Tony
12-17-2007, 03:19 AM
December 17, 2007 01:40pm
THE woman accused of lighting the Adelaide Hills bushfires has been led from court begging for her identity to be hidden from the public.
Dressed in neat casual clothes with blonde highlights in her dark hair, housewife Helen White, 44, waved her handcuffed hands, wept and said: “Suppression, suppression, I need a suppression” after her appearance in the Murray Bridge Magistrates Court this morning.
The mother of two, from Harrogate, was arrested at the weekend and charged with 47 counts of deliberately lighting a bushfire.
Her husband Darren was in court, as were his parents and sister.
She applied for bail – but that decision will not be made until reports have been tendered on Friday.
White, who had fought back tears throughout the hearing, then lost her composure, stared wide-eyed at her family and begged for a suppression order.
Magistrate Derek Sprod was told by prosecutors that White could be linked to “as many as 15” of the bushfires, with more links expected.
Lisa Smith, prosecuting, said “a unique ignition device” linking the fires had been found with White’s fingerprints on it.
She said some of the fires burned as much as 400 acres of farmland, putting “ livestock, property and human lives at risk”.
White’s lawyers said she should be bailed to live in Highbury, well away from the site of the alleged bushfires, until her trial.
Ms Smith, however, said prosecutors opposed any form of bail, including home detention.
She said White could not be trusted not to light another bushfire if unsupervised for even a few minutes.
Mr Sprod said he wanted reports about White’s suitability for bail.
He remanded her in custody to appear before him at the Christies Beach Magistrates Court on Friday.
For legal reasons, AdelaideNow cannot publish comments on this story.
THE woman accused of lighting the Adelaide Hills bushfires has been led from court begging for her identity to be hidden from the public.
Dressed in neat casual clothes with blonde highlights in her dark hair, housewife Helen White, 44, waved her handcuffed hands, wept and said: “Suppression, suppression, I need a suppression” after her appearance in the Murray Bridge Magistrates Court this morning.
The mother of two, from Harrogate, was arrested at the weekend and charged with 47 counts of deliberately lighting a bushfire.
Her husband Darren was in court, as were his parents and sister.
She applied for bail – but that decision will not be made until reports have been tendered on Friday.
White, who had fought back tears throughout the hearing, then lost her composure, stared wide-eyed at her family and begged for a suppression order.
Magistrate Derek Sprod was told by prosecutors that White could be linked to “as many as 15” of the bushfires, with more links expected.
Lisa Smith, prosecuting, said “a unique ignition device” linking the fires had been found with White’s fingerprints on it.
She said some of the fires burned as much as 400 acres of farmland, putting “ livestock, property and human lives at risk”.
White’s lawyers said she should be bailed to live in Highbury, well away from the site of the alleged bushfires, until her trial.
Ms Smith, however, said prosecutors opposed any form of bail, including home detention.
She said White could not be trusted not to light another bushfire if unsupervised for even a few minutes.
Mr Sprod said he wanted reports about White’s suitability for bail.
He remanded her in custody to appear before him at the Christies Beach Magistrates Court on Friday.
For legal reasons, AdelaideNow cannot publish comments on this story.