NT teenage girl charged with terror offence makes bid for bail

Judge to consider bail for Northern Territory teenage girl charged with a terrorism offence In short: A Northern Territory teenage girl charged with serious terrorism offences could return home to her family after her lawyer made a bid for bail. The 15-year-old was arrested and charged earlier this month with making or collecting documents likely to facilitate a terrorist act. What's next? The judge is expected to make a decision on bail later today. The diary entries of a 15-year-old Northern Territory girl charged with a terrorism related offence allegedly reveal she "had plans to shoot her school", a court has heard. The 15-year-old girl has been in custody since being charged with collecting or making documents likely to facilitate a terrorist act 10 days ago. Commonwealth prosecutor Hadi Mazloum opposed the bail application, telling the court the main concern was a risk to community safety. "That's because of the risk of the infliction of ideologically motivated violence and an online presence which could be seen to encourage extreme violence," he said. Mr Mazloum referenced diary entries allegedly made by the teenager which he said included plans to carry out a school shooting and while the proposed bail conditions were strict, parental supervision would be "inadequate". Mr Mazloum acknowledged detaining a young girl was a "grave step" and said her writing showed "a child in real distress with a history of being bullied". However, he opposed the characterisation of the diary entries as that of a "young girl who was bullied and venting, not planning". "She names a particular student and says she wants her dead; she names a particular place and school,"Mr Mazloum said. "She writes that she and the other young person had plans to shoot her school. "All of this happened within the family home." Mr Mazloum also raised concerns about the teenager's access to online devices which he said would be difficult to control through parental supervision in a home environment. Defence says 'psychological circumstances' warrant bail consideration The girl's lawyer, Brooke Houen, put forward a plan she described as "extremely stringent" and would impose conditions akin to "house arrest" including "24/7 parental supervision" and electronic monitoring. Ms Houen said her client's young age and her "psychological circumstances" were important considerations for the court. The court heard the teenager had been diagnosed with ADHD and was likely to be diagnosed with autism. Ms Houen said her client's "educational difficulties" and "psychological needs" were unlikely to be met due to "rolling lockdowns" at the Holtze Youth Detention Centre. "This is a matter where part of the issue is [the youth] has tendencies to be isolated, disaffected and struggling personally and putting her on remand in a youth detention facility is not the way to address those issues," Ms Houen said. "The way to address those issues is through structured psychological supports which are now in place, returning her to her family, allowing them to support her." The court heard the case was likely to proceed to a jury trial in the NT Supreme Court which Ms Houen said could take more than a year. "That is a significant amount of time to remand a young child with her particular vulnerabilities,"Ms Houen said. She also told the court guns owned by family members had all been removed from the property and the girl would have "no access" to any firearms. Ms Houen emphasised that her client was "well aware" of the seriousness of the charges and the strictness of the bail conditions. "Her primary goal is returning home to her family and she is willing to do whatever is necessary to achieve that," she said. The girl was supported in court by a group of family members, including her mother, and at one point during the hearing Judge Greg Macdonald asked the girl how she was. "Good," the girl said. Judge Macdonald explained the bail conditions would include "lots of rules". "Are you willing to stick with them, to comply with them, to follow the rules and not break them?" Judge Macdonald asked. "Yes," the girl said. Judge Macdonald said he required additional time to consider all the submissions from the prosecution and defence before deciding whether to release the girl from custody. The girl was remanded in custody and is expected to return to court later this afternoon.