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ABC News
National
court reporter Claire Campbell

Mother charged with attempted murder of daughter at Sefton Plaza granted home detention bail

The victim was allegedly stabbed and forced into a car at the Sefton Plaza shopping centre car park in November 2021. (ABC News: Mahalia Carter)

A mother accused of attempting to murder her young adult daughter in an "attempted honour killing" has been released on home detention bail, despite the South Australian Supreme Court hearing the alleged victim still fears her family and what they could do to her.

The 56-year-old woman — whose identity has been suppressed — has been charged with the attempted murder and false imprisonment of her daughter in November last year.

The victim's father, brother, sister and brother-in-law have also been charged with attempted murder, while the victim's other brother and brother-in-law have been accused of searching the victim's partner's house two days earlier.

The Supreme Court heard the victim's father allegedly stabbed his daughter with a knife at the Sefton Plaza Shopping Centre car park, in Adelaide's north-east, while her mother and other co-accused allegedly held the victim.

Prosecutor Tali Costi told the court the victim's mother then allegedly helped force her into a car, took her home "gravely injured" and put her in the bathroom without seeking medical assistance or contacting police.

"The evidence points to family members working together to communicate with one another to share information about where the complainant was in the lead-up to the stabbing and they're all present at the time this occurred," she told the court.

She also told the court the alleged victim's boyfriend had received "threats that he and the victim would be harmed" by her family two days prior to the incident.

The court has previously heard the young woman had an arranged marriage to her cousin.

The Supreme Court heard the victim's father allegedly stabbed his daughter with a knife, while her mother and other co-accused allegedly held the victim. (ABC News: Dean Faulkner)

Justice Tim Stanley said the alleged victim had left the family home some days earlier "over a dispute over her relationship with a man" of a different religion. 

"It is the prosecution case that the motive for the attempt on the victim's life was the shame brought upon the family by the alleged victim's relationship with this man … described as an attempted honour killing," he said while releasing the woman on home-detention bail.

The court heard the woman, who is in protective accommodation, asserted "she's still in fear of her family because of what happened to her and what they might do to her and [her boyfriend] if they ever found us".

But Justice Stanley said it was a general claim of fear and was not specific to her mother and that the alleged victim had previously said her mother "was endeavouring to protect her or prevent further injury to her" and was herself injured in the stabbing.

The woman's lawyer, Marie Shaw QC, told the court her client would live in a "sleep-out" in a Salisbury Park home and that the owners of the house were also willing to be guarantors.

"There is a considerable number of persons who have offered to ensure that my client complies with any conditions of bail," she told the court.

Crime scene investigators attended the shopping centre following the incident in November 2021. (ABC News: Mahalia Carter)

Ms Shaw also said her client had a women's fashion store in Adelaide's northern suburbs which several people were volunteering in to "keep it open".

"These people are essentially helping to fill the gap in the hope that my client will be able to return to opening the store and they're doing that on a voluntary basis," Ms Shaw told the court.

"The store business is struggling as many businesses are during COVID times."

Justice Stanley released the woman on home detention bail with electronic monitoring on strict conditions she have no contact with the alleged victim or the co-accused, be banned from travelling more than 5 kilometres from her home-detention address and not be within 250 metres of the alleged victim or her partner.

The woman, who came to Australia seeking asylum 15 years ago, has also been ordered to provide a cash surety of $5,000.

The matter returns to court in June.

The court has previously heard the alleged victim's family put tracking apps on her phone, broke into her boyfriend's house and drained her bank account while she was recovering in intensive care from the stabbing.

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