A YOUNG woman accused of murdering Jason Adams at Raymond Terrace in February claims she was acting in self-defence when she stabbed the 27-year-old to death, Newcastle Local Court has heard.
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Lily Ridgeway, 21, of Taree, launched an application for bail on Wednesday, with her solicitor, Aboriginal Legal Aid Trial Advocate Elana Scoufis, claiming a combination of the self-defence issue, the coronavirus pandemic and strict bail conditions meant Ms Ridgeway could be granted release ahead of what is expected to be a trial in the NSW Supreme Court.
Ms Ridgeway was arrested at a motel at North Haven, on the mid-north coast, on March 2 this year, two days after the body of Mr Adams was found in the middle of the intersection of Watt and Payton streets at Raymond Terrace.
She was charged with murder and has remained behind bars ever since.
Neighbours in the tiny cul-de-sac where Mr Adams was found dead described hearing a number of volatile arguments coming from a home in the hours and days before he was fatally stabbed.
Mr Adams is believed to have been at the house in Payton Street early on the morning of February 29 when a dispute started and spilled out onto the street.
Neighbours have described being woken about 5.30am to the sound of screaming.
A member of the public found Mr Adams' body lying on the road about 5.45am and called triple-zero.
He had suffered multiple stab wounds.
On Wednesday, during an application to have Ms Ridgeway released on strict conditional bail, Ms Scoufis said the prosecution had made a concession that the possibility of self-defence arose on the evidence.
Ms Scoufis submitted that - as well as the self-defence issue - the current COVID-19 pandemic was impacting Ms Ridgeway's experience in custody through an inability to have visitors or properly instruct her lawyers.
The prosecution had said Ms Ridgeway posed an unacceptable risk in all four ways that an applicant for bail can be an unacceptable risk.
But Ms Scoufis said those concerns could be mitigated by strict conditions, namely that Ms Ridgeway live with her grandmother in Dubbo - well away from the "negative influence" and any witnesses in Raymond Terrace - and report daily to police.
Ultimately, Ms Ridgeway's application for bail appeared to be a close run thing, with Magistrate Christopher Longley finding that Ms Ridgeway had cleared the first hurdle of show cause, but ruled that she posed an unacceptable risk of failing to appear due to a number of warrants that had to be issued for her in the past.
