IT has been a busy few weeks in NSW courts for Kyna McAuley, the Mount Hutton woman accused of masterminding the horrific abduction and torture of a woman before allegedly attempting to influence a witness in the case.
Ms McAuley, 41, is accused of being the ringleader of a terrifying kidnapping during which a woman was tied up, struck in the head with a hammer, doused with boiling hot water and burned with a cigarette at a house at Mount Hutton in May last year. Ms McAuley was granted Supreme Court bail earlier this year after she agreed to wear an electronic monitoring bracelet and post a $20,000 surety.
But she was taken back into jail in June after allegedly using an encrypted messaging app to contact a witness in the case in a bid, police allege, to get that person to change their statement and contradict the version of the alleged victim.
Ms McAuley has pleaded not guilty to a number of charges including kidnapping and assault and has a trial date in Newcastle District Court in June, 2023.
The 41-year-old was intending to again apply for bail on the kidnapping and assault charges in the Supreme Court on Thursday, but that was abandoned at the last minute when it was revealed that regardless of Justice Peter Hamill's decision, the DPP intended to apply for her to be detained on the charge relating to influencing a witness in Newcastle Local Court on Friday.
Justice Hamill said hearing any bail application was "futile" and adjourned the bail application until this week because Ms McAuley could be immediately taken back behind bars on Friday.
Ms McAuley did not oppose the DPP's detention application on Friday and is now formally refused bail on both charges, meaning she can apply for bail in the NSW Supreme Court next week.
McAuley's kidnapping and assault charges are also this week listed in the Newcastle District Court's super callover, a process where criminal trials are funnelled into a list, negotiations take place, deals are done and dozens of trials are resolved with guilty pleas, significantly reducing the backlog.
Detectives say Ms McAuley became enraged in May last year after the 25-year-old alleged victim was involved in a car accident while driving Ms McAuley's young daughter.
The 25-year-old was allegedly locked in a shed, struck in the head and eye with a hammer, had boiling hot water poured on her head, a cigarette pressed into her forehead and had her teeth knocked out with a pole.
