BREAKING NEWS: Privileged mum accused of brutally stabbing her elite private school graduate son ‘with a 12-inch knife’ will be home for XMAS after offering up her $3.1 million mansion as security – as more details of the attack emerge
- Alleged Bellevue Hill stabber Samantha Palmer, 55, has been granted bail
- Her lawyer offered up $200,000 security from the equity of her home
- Palmer is accused of attacking her son Hugo Ball, 22, with 12 inch knife
- Court is told the attack was from behind, injured his shoulder, neck, back
- But court says Ball is refusing to give a formal statement to NSW Police
The Sydney mother accused of repeatedly stabbing her elite private school graduate son has been granted conditional bail after offering up her $3.1 million Bellevue Hill mansion as security.
Police prosecutor Kerry-Ann McKinnon told Central Local Court on Thursday that Samantha Palmer, 55, allegedly attacked her son, Hugo Ball, 22, with a 12-inch knife causing him to lose two litres of blood.
The alleged attack occurred after Mr Ball – a graduate of $33,000-a-year Scots College – returned home about 1.40am on Saturday, November 21. It has been the talk of one of Sydney’s most affluent areas ever since.
Sergeant McKinnon said there was a ‘strong prosecution case’ against wealthy Palmer, who allegedly stabbed Ball from behind to his back, shoulders and rear of his neck.
Samantha Palmer, 22, was released on bail by a Sydney magistrate on Thursday morning after allegedly attacking her son Hugo Ball (above together) with a 12 inch knife
Last Christmas: Palmer with her son, Ball, and his father in 2019. Under the terms of her bail conditions she is banned from approaching her son – the alleged victim
‘We say this is an unprovoked attack on her own son,’ Sgt McKinnon told the court, adding that alcohol was a factor.
She said it was ‘inevitable’ Palmer would be found guilty by a court given the strength of evidence.
But she warned that if granted bail, Palmer could collude with other prosecution witnesses – her daughter and husband.
However, Ms Palmer’s lawyer Justin Wong said Ball has refused to give police a formal statement of the events of that night.
Police took down a version of events from Ball the night of the attack in a detective’s notebook, but it could be inadmissible at trial, Mr Wong told the court.
Ball, 22, showed off his injuries to friends during a drinking session in an eastern suburbs park last Thursday
Palmer upon her arrest last month after she allegedly stabbed her son about 1.40am on Saturday, November 21, in the affluent Sydney suburb of Bellevue Hill
Ball’s sister and step-father were present at the the home at the time of the attack and have given statements to police, however they were not direct eye-witnesses, the court heard.
Mr Wong offered the court $200,000 in security from Palmer and her husband, James Tilley, which would be forfeited if she did not show at court. It is understood to be equity in the family’s sprawling home.
‘It’s all on offer,’ Mr Wong told the court.
$200,000 in equity from Palmer’s $3.1 million Bellevue Hill mansion was offered up as security. That means Palmer would forfeit that sum if she failed to show for court or abide by her conditons
Mr Wong noted that Ms Palmer had no criminal record whatsoever prior to the alleged attack.
Magistrate Philip Stewart granted Palmer bail on strict conditions including that she be banned from drinking alcohol while at liberty and abide by a curfew.
The decision means she will likely be freed for Christmas however she is banned from approaching her only son whatsoever.
A previous, aborted, bail application heard her son Ball had returned home ‘incoherent’ and had made a bizarre remark about being involved in a murder.
Palmer is due to be released from Silverwater Women’s Prison before Christmas, after almost a month in custody.
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