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A woman accused of using the dark web to arrange the contract killings of her parents stood to inherit more than $2.5 million if the “prominent Canberrans” died, a court has been told. New details of the case against the 26-year-old woman, who cannot be named for legal reasons, emerged during an unsuccessful bail application in the ACT Magistrates Court on Wednesday. In documents tendered to the court, police claim the defendant entered her parents’ house in Canberra’s south to use her mother’s laptop while neither parent was home on September 21 last year. It is alleged that while on the device, she made a number of large, unauthorised bank transfers from her parents’ business account and mother’s personal account. Some of the money was returned at her parents’ request the following day, police say, but $15,000 “remained outstanding”. Two days after the alleged burglary and theft, police say the woman created an account with a cryptocurrency exchange called Paxful. She is then alleged to have purchased more than $6000 worth of Bitcoin on September 24, under the username “SelectSeatrout300”. Police say her name, date of birth, email address and phone number were linked to the Paxful account, while she also allegedly provided photographs of herself and her driver’s licence to verify her identity. Later that same date, police claim the woman accessed a dark web site named “The Sinaloa Cartel Marketplace”. “The site advertises services including murder and assault for hire, and the sale of illicit items such as drugs and firearms,” police say in court documents. “‘Accidental murder prices are advertised as low as $7000. “Users can create an account and submit a ‘job’ request, which includes the ability to upload images of the intended targets.” According to investigators, the defendant created a Sinaloa Cartel account under the name “cback339884”. She is alleged to have then sent a message to site administrator “Juan”, saying: “Willing to pay $20,000 AUD to have this done as soon as possible. 2 individuals, death by accident if at all possible.” The woman then allegedly gave her parents’ names and address. The person calling themselves Juan replied, police claim, with: “Hi, Ok, that is agreeable. $20,000 AUD for the two individuals as specified, death as accident. Do you have bitcoin? Let me know.” Cback339884 wrote back: “Have placed money into my wallet here. I require this job to be done asap.” Police allege that the woman provided Bitcoin worth about $6032, prompting “Juan” to ask for the balance and enquire as to whether the targets would be armed. According to officers, “Juan” sent further messages requesting additional payment, but the defendant never responded. ACT Policing was alerted to the woman’s alleged activities on October 24, through an email from a UK-based journalist who has been commissioned by the BBC to produce a podcast on “contract violence websites”. The journalist told police that while conducting research on the dark web, he had “obtained information relating to the order of the murders of [the woman’s parents]”. Police quickly alerted the alleged targets, who told officers their daughter would receive one-third of their estate, worth about $8 million, if they died. “[The parents] feared for their safety and undertook a number of steps including changing the locks at their residential property, as well as temporarily relocating whilst the matter was investigated,” police say. Detectives say the UK-based journalist and his colleagues later provided screenshots of “conversations between the defendant and the Sinaloa Cartel website”, as well as information on Bitcoin transactions. Police ultimately formed a view that the Sinaloa Cartel website was “likely a fraudulent site which takes Bitcoin from customers, though delivers no services in return”. The woman was arrested on December 7 and charged with two counts of attempted murder, two counts of inciting murder, and single counts of burglary and theft. A summary of her subsequent police interview says she made “full denials” and claimed to have “nil knowledge” of the allegations. The 26-year-old pleaded not guilty to all charges on December 21. When she applied for bail on Wednesday, her barrister Jack Pappas said there were “severe problems with the case on all counts”. Mr Pappas, instructed by solicitor Adrian McKenna, also said the woman’s case would likely be delayed for an inordinate length of time after the court heard it would probably be at least a year before the prosecution could compile the full brief of evidence. He said the woman should not be left languishing in custody in such circumstances, and said “it would be hard to imagine a more stringent set of [bail] conditions” than those he was proposing. Prosecutor Soraya Saikal-Skea, however, argued the defence had failed to establish the special or exceptional circumstances necessary for bail to be granted in an attempted murder case. Following lengthy submissions, Chief Magistrate Lorraine Walker agreed with Ms Saikal-Skea and refused bail. The defendant is due back in court on March 1.
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A woman accused of using the dark web to arrange the contract killings of her parents stood to inherit more than $2.5 million if the “prominent Canberrans” died, a court has been told.
New details of the case against the 26-year-old woman, who cannot be named for legal reasons, emerged during an unsuccessful bail application in the ACT Magistrates Court on Wednesday.
In documents tendered to the court, police claim the defendant entered her parents’ house in Canberra’s south to use her mother’s laptop while neither parent was home on September 21 last year.
It is alleged that while on the device, she made a number of large, unauthorised bank transfers from her parents’ business account and mother’s personal account.
Some of the money was returned at her parents’ request the following day, police say, but $15,000 “remained outstanding”.
Two days after the alleged burglary and theft, police say the woman created an account with a cryptocurrency exchange called Paxful.
She is then alleged to have purchased more than $6000 worth of Bitcoin on September 24, under the username “SelectSeatrout300”.
Police say her name, date of birth, email address and phone number were linked to the Paxful account, while she also allegedly provided photographs of herself and her driver’s licence to verify her identity.
Later that same date, police claim the woman accessed a dark web site named “The Sinaloa Cartel Marketplace”.
“The site advertises services including murder and assault for hire, and the sale of illicit items such as drugs and firearms,” police say in court documents.
“‘Accidental murder prices are advertised as low as $7000.
“Users can create an account and submit a ‘job’ request, which includes the ability to upload images of the intended targets.”
According to investigators, the defendant created a Sinaloa Cartel account under the name “cback339884”.
She is alleged to have then sent a message to site administrator “Juan”, saying: “Willing to pay $20,000 AUD to have this done as soon as possible. 2 individuals, death by accident if at all possible.”
The woman then allegedly gave her parents’ names and address.
The person calling themselves Juan replied, police claim, with: “Hi, Ok, that is agreeable. $20,000 AUD for the two individuals as specified, death as accident. Do you have bitcoin? Let me know.”
Cback339884 wrote back: “Have placed money into my wallet here. I require this job to be done asap.”
Police allege that the woman provided Bitcoin worth about $6032, prompting “Juan” to ask for the balance and enquire as to whether the targets would be armed.
According to officers, “Juan” sent further messages requesting additional payment, but the defendant never responded.
ACT Policing was alerted to the woman’s alleged activities on October 24, through an email from a UK-based journalist who has been commissioned by the BBC to produce a podcast on “contract violence websites”.
The journalist told police that while conducting research on the dark web, he had “obtained information relating to the order of the murders of [the woman’s parents]”.
Police quickly alerted the alleged targets, who told officers their daughter would receive one-third of their estate, worth about $8 million, if they died.
“[The parents] feared for their safety and undertook a number of steps including changing the locks at their residential property, as well as temporarily relocating whilst the matter was investigated,” police say.
Detectives say the UK-based journalist and his colleagues later provided screenshots of “conversations between the defendant and the Sinaloa Cartel website”, as well as information on Bitcoin transactions.
Police ultimately formed a view that the Sinaloa Cartel website was “likely a fraudulent site which takes Bitcoin from customers, though delivers no services in return”.
A summary of her subsequent police interview says she made “full denials” and claimed to have “nil knowledge” of the allegations.
When she applied for bail on Wednesday, her barrister Jack Pappas said there were “severe problems with the case on all counts”.
Mr Pappas, instructed by solicitor Adrian McKenna, also said the woman’s case would likely be delayed for an inordinate length of time after the court heard it would probably be at least a year before the prosecution could compile the full brief of evidence.
He said the woman should not be left languishing in custody in such circumstances, and said “it would be hard to imagine a more stringent set of [bail] conditions” than those he was proposing.
Prosecutor Soraya Saikal-Skea, however, argued the defence had failed to establish the special or exceptional circumstances necessary for bail to be granted in an attempted murder case.
Following lengthy submissions, Chief Magistrate Lorraine Walker agreed with Ms Saikal-Skea and refused bail.
The defendant is due back in court on March 1.
