A woman accused of trying to stab her grandmother to death has been granted bail despite concern over her mental health.
Bella-Rose Currie Shields was charged with the attempted murder of her grandmother after she allegedly attacked her with a knife at the family’s Beaudesert home in Queensland’s southeast in May 2023.
Supreme Court Justice Thomas Bradley granted Ms Shields’s bail application on Wednesday.
The 21-year-old has spent the last 18 months on remand, including five of those months spent in the high-security inpatient service in The Park Centre for Mental Health.
Ms Shields’s Legal Aid solicitor Natalie Keys previously told the court that her client had made significant improvements against the backdrop of an “escalating history of mental health issues”.
“(It) really culminated in the alleged offending incident from May 17, 2023,” she said.
Ms Keys said her client’s mental health had improved since being moved to Brisbane Women’s Correctional Centre, where she had held down employment in the kitchen.
“She’s using knives … it wouldn’t be done if there was still a substantial risk of harming others,” Ms Keys said.
The bail application was opposed by Crown prosecutor Jennifer O’Brien, who told the court during Tuesday’s hearing that the extent of Ms Shields’s mental health was a concern for the community.
Ms O’Brien said there were incidents at the family home before the alleged stabbing while Ms Shields was in a “disturbed” state.
“Her previous episodes have been extremely concerning in terms of the context of being paranoid and harmful and placing herself at risk,” Ms O’Brien said.
“That month before, she barricaded herself in a room and expressed homicidal ideation towards the grandparents … with a large knife.
“There is extremely concerning behaviours when this lady is unwell.”
Ms Keys said Ms Shields had been complying with her medication and treatment plan while on remand and was willing to continue to follow her treatment authority on bail.
Ms Shields is yet to enter a plea.
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