Question: Defendant: Helen Miller-Hall Charge: Assaults occasioning bodily harm (domestic violence offence) contrary to sections 339(1) & 564(3A) Criminal Code 1899 (Qld). Helen has been charged with the offence of assaults occasioning bodily harm (domestic violence offence). The complainant is her stepmother, Grace Miller, aged 39 years. Grace married Helen's father, Robert, in 2010 and they have two children together, Phoebe (aged 11 years) and Thomas (aged 8 years). They live in Meringandan West, outside of Toowoomba. Since June 2023, Grace and Robert have had care of Helen's daughter, Harper, aged 14 months. This arrangement came about as a result of Helen and her former partner, Graeme, being ICE users and having convictions for drug offending. There are proceedings on foot in the Family Court and with the Department of Child Safety for Harper to be returned to Helen's care full-time. At present, Helen has supervised visits with Harper on Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday mornings. She is undergoing rehabilitation treatment and counselling as part of the proposed care arrangement. On 10 April 2024, Grace was at home with Phoebe and Thomas. Robert was working the night shift at his airport job and was expected to be home soon after his shift ended at 9.00pm. At around 6.00pm, Helen arrived at Grace and Robert's home in a taxi, unannounced. She was heavily intoxicated. She told Grace that she wanted to see Harper. Grace told Helen it was not a good time and that she could not just show up drunk, expecting to see her daughter. Helen became increasingly angry and threw her bag at Grace. Concerned by Helen's behaviour, Grace told Phoebe and Thomas to take Harper upstairs. This angered Helen more and she tried to push past Grace, who stood between Helen and the children and repeatedly said "Stop, Helen. Don't do this. Just sit down and we can talk." Helen screamed at Grace and said "You are not my mother. You are not her mother. Get out of my way you bitch or I will smash you." Grace continued to plead with Helen to calm down. She grabbed Helen's arms and tried to walk her backwards. Helen threw her arms around and out 2 of Grace's grip, she then punched Grace with a closed fist to the head once. This caused Grace to stumble backwards and trip over a dining chair. She hit her head hard on the tiled floor and lost consciousness. Phoebe witnessed the scuffle and screamed when she saw Grace hit the tiles. She shouted for Helen to call an ambulance. Helen stood over Grace in shock, then called triple zero. Phoebe took the phone from Helen and spoke with the operator to get an ambulance. After Phoebe told the operator what happened, they informed that the police would also be called to attend the address. While Phoebe was on the phone, Helen said to Phoebe "I am so sorry. I didn't mean it. I just wanted to see my daughter. I am so sorry. Oh my god!" Police and an ambulance arrived at the house a short time later. Grace had regained consciousness and Helen was placed under arrest and taken to the Toowoomba police station. She was not interviewed due to her level of intoxication, but told police that she did hit Grace, would take full responsibility and was very sorry for what she had done. Helen was charged with assaults occasioning bodily harm (domestic violence offence) and remanded in custody. Grace was taken to Toowoomba General Hospital where she was diagnosed as having sustained a concussion. She was treated for swelling, bruising and a small cut to the back of her head which required closure with butterfly clips. She was kept in hospital overnight under observation but was discharged the next day with pain relief. She is expected to make a full recovery within weeks. The following day, police attended Grace and Robert's house and spoke with Grace. She gave a statement to police that said she had very little memory of what occurred the previous night and how she sustained the injury. She said she had never seen Helen act like this before and it was the first time she had shown up to see Harper outside of the set visitation times. You are the duty lawyer today at the Toowoomba Magistrates Court. You attend at the Toowoomba Watch House to commence as duty lawyer for the day. The Watch House Shift Supervisor informs your client the Police would object to bail. The police will also seek to revoke any previous bail. Police allege bail should be refused because Helen: has breached her bail by committing this offence; is a risk of re-offending; is a risk of failing to appear; is a risk of breaching bail by interfering with witnesses; has a criminal history that includes domestic violence offending; and has been charged with a serious offence. Helen, your client, requests to see you in the Watch House in your capacity as Duty Lawyer. Your client instructs you to go to the arrest and remand court and apply for bail today. 3 Your client provides you with the following instructions. She is 23 years of age and her date of birth is 4 January 2001. She gave birth to Harper in 2021 and is no longer with the father, Graeme, who is a heavy ICE user and dealer, and introduced her to the drug when they started dating in 2019. Helen says she has only seen Graeme once in the past 6 months and that he has had no contact with her or Harper. Helen also instructs that she has not used drugs since she became pregnant with Harper. Helen gives you some details about her criminal history. She instructs that she is fighting the current charges before the court, where it is alleged that she assaulted Graeme by scratching the left side of his face with her fingernails. She instructs that she is fighting that charge because she was acting in self-defence. Helen instructs that the assault was in breach of a domestic violence order that was in place naming her as the respondent and Graeme as the aggrieved. There were cross-orders in place as a result of that relationship and Graeme was in breach of his order by attending her house on the day she is alleged to have assaulted him. This was the only occasion she has seen Graeme in the past 6 months. Helen said she consented to the order without admissions as she was advised to do so by the duty lawyer at court back in 2020, where her and Graeme both took out orders against each other following a verbal argument where Helen broke Graeme's phone after he threatened to kill her. They were both using ICE at the time of that incident. She pleaded guilty to possessing methylamphetamine in 2023 when police stopped and searched the car she was driving and found a clip-seal bag containing a small amount of the drug under the driver's seat. She said she was driving Graeme's car at the time and took ownership of the drug for Graeme, who was on parole at the time and would have had to return to prison, missing Harper's birth. Helen says that her previous drug possession conviction in 2021 was also for a small amount of methylamphetamine found in her pocket after she was arrested for contravening the domestic violence order that same day. The contravention arose because Helen was observed by neighbours at Graeme's house, screaming abuse and threats towards him. Helen said that this occurred because Graeme had spent all of their money on drugs and she could not pay for her rent or phone bill. She said the breach of bail in the following days was because she showed up late for her court mention. She said her car was out of petrol and she had no money for a taxi or Uber, and had to catch the bus. She missed the scheduled bus and arrived at court an hour late. She immediately went to the police station to explain what happened, but police breached her anyway. Helen informs you that she currently has casual employment at a local coffee shop, and works 3-4 days per week, doing 4 hour shifts. She has been living in a share-house since she broke up with Graeme. She lives with 3 other females who are all employed and do not use drugs. She instructs you that on the morning she assaulted Grace, she had received a number of text 4 5 messages from Graeme, asking Helen to take him back so they could be a family. When she told him no, he threatened to take her to Court and gain full-time care of Harper. Helen said this made her anxious and upset. She had a glass of her flatmate's wine at around 1.00pm. She finished the bottle and went to the shop to buy a replacement. She bought a second bottle which she consumed in full. She then decided to take a taxi to Grace and Robert's house to see Harper. Helen instructs that she does not really remember the taxi ride or the events in the house but accepts that she assaulted Grace and is extremely remorseful. She said that when she punched Grace, it was not hard as she was so drunk. She said that she accepts this is an assault, but thinks that the injury was more likely caused by her falling over the chair and hitting her head on the hard floor. This seems to accord with the injuries sustained by Grace as described in the police QP9. Helen fears that being remanded in custody awaiting sentence will result in her losing her job, house and also impact upon her rehabilitation efforts and her plans to be reunited with Harper, which have been going well so far. The Police Prosecutor provides you with the following criminal history. Assault occasioning bodily harm (domestic violence offence) and Contravention of Domestic Violence Order both occurred on 01/01/2024. The case was dealt with by the Toowoomba Magistrates Court where bail was granted to attend the next court date, which is set for 22 May 2024.

• Possession of dangerous drugs on 04/03/2023. The case was dealt with by the Toowoomba Magistrates Court on 12/03/2023. The outcome was a 6-month probation order and a conviction was recorded.
• Breach of bail - failure to appear in accordance with undertaking on 15/02/2021. The case was dealt with by the Toowoomba Magistrates Court on 03/03/2021. The outcome was a fine of $150 and no conviction was recorded.
• Possession of dangerous drugs on 11/02/2021. The case was dealt with by the Toowoomba Magistrates Court on 22/04/2021. The outcome was a fine of $150 and no conviction was recorded.
• Contravention of Domestic Violence Order on 11/02/2021. The case was dealt with by the Toowoomba Magistrates Court on 22/04/2021. The outcome was a Good Behaviour Order of 12 months and no conviction was recorded.

for a bail application : is the defendant is in a show cause position and why [refer s 16(3)] bail act qld