AN ARARAT woman who spent almost three months in remand while awaiting her hearing was released from custody.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
Nikki Murphy, appeared before the Ararat Magistrates' Court on Friday, September 17, via videolink from the Dame Phyllis Frost Centre, where she pleaded guilty to 10 charges, including breaching an intervention order and theft.
On August 14, 2020, the victim was granted a personal safety intervention order against Murphy, preventing her from contacting the victim or being within 10 metres of their home.
On September 6, a breach of the personal safety intervention order occurred when Murphy was captured by personal CCTV footage walking along the footpath in front of the victim's property, within the restricted 10-metre area.
Murphy yelled out "come on" to the victim on multiple occasions.
On October 22, 2020, from 4.38pm, Murphy spent two hours walking past the protected property, touching the victim's car on occasion.
READ MORE:
Similar incidents took place on January 7 and March 29, 2021; each time Murphy would walk by the victim's house and enter their front yard.
On January 7, 2021, Murphy was recorded on CCTV leaving an empty blue shoebox at the victim's home
Later that night, Murphy was seen stomping on the shoe box, before saying, "What are you looking at you dumb slut?".
Similar breaches of the intervention order took place on March 9, March 26, and May 11.
On February 8, 2021, the victim left their bicycle at the Ararat railway station overnight.
At 5am on February 9, CCTV footage showed Murphy touching the bike and walking away.
At 7.30am, footage showed Murphy mounting the bicycle and riding away.
OTHER NEWS:
On March 3, 2021, Murphy was arrested and admitted to police to stealing the bicycle, but said she had given the bicycle to someone else and would not reveal the identity of who it was.
She was bailed and remanded to appear in the Ararat Magistrates' Court, but failed to appear.
A warrant was issued for her arrest.
On June 25 2021, Murphy was intercepted by police. She admitted to the officers she used cannabis earlier that day, and produced a small bag of vegetable matter from her bra.
It was later found to contain 0.94 grams of cannabis.
Murphy was placed in remand until Friday, September 17, a total of 81 days.
The defence counsel described Murphy's offending as "low-level" and "unsophisticated".
Magistrate Tim Walsh sentenced Murphy to 45 days of imprisonment, citing the 81 days she had already served.
"You need to stay away from that house," Mr Walsh said to Murphy.
"If you do it again you might be in (jail) for six months."
If you are seeing this message you are a loyal digital subscriber to The Ararat Advertiser, as we made this story available only to subscribers. Thank you very much for your support and allowing us to continue telling Ararat's story. We appreciate your support of journalism in our great city.