A mental health nurse accused of killing her husband cried in court after being granted bail.
Caroll Hopkinson, 58, has spent the past five weeks behind bars after being… charged with the murder of her husband Simon at their Taperoo home in Adelaide’s west on July 7.
The court heard Hopkinson called emergency services after allegedly stabbing her husband during a knife fight.
She appeared in Adelaide Magistrates Court via video link for a bail hearing on Tuesday.
His attorney, Jeff Powell, argued that his client posed no risk and was not at risk of reoffending or fleeing.
The police prosecutor also expressed concerns about Hopkinson’s mental health while in court, the Adelaide Advertiser reported.
“The main concern we have is whether his mental health is going to be stable enough and whether that stability will be maintained throughout the proceedings so that we can guarantee that he will still be with us during those proceedings,” the prosecutor told the court.
“Our fear is that she might commit suicide.”
Carroll Hopkinson walked out of Adelaide Women’s Prison shortly after 6pm on Tuesday night after being earlier granted bail.
The mental health nurse is accused of stabbing her husband Simon to death last month
The prosecutor recommended house arrest for Hopkinson.
But Mr Powell told the court that bail would allow his client to seek the support he needed.
Chief Magistrate Mary Hribal agreed Hopkinson posed no risk to the community and released her on bail.
Hopkinson, wearing a brightly striped jumper and orange trousers and carrying a briefcase, left Adelaide women’s prison shortly after 6pm on Tuesday, where reporters asked her if she was relieved to be out of jail.
“I am,” she replied before she was thrown out.
Mr Powell previously told the court that Hopkinson woke up that morning to a strange noise coming from the bathroom.
Hopkinson allegedly found Simon, also a mental health nurse, trying to end his life.
Caroll Hopkinson told reporters she was relieved to be out on bail before she was taken away.
Panicking, she ran to get a knife to stop him, but an “aggressive” Simon turned on her, according to her lawyer.
“She understood his reaction to be ‘why are you stopping me from doing something I need to do?’ That’s how she interpreted his reaction,” Powell told the court last month.
‘He took the knife from her and attacked her. She had cuts on her hands from trying to defend herself. There was a struggle and then she took the knife back.’
Simon then lunged at his wife, who allegedly stabbed him out of fear for her life.
Hopkinson was released on bail until her next court appearance in September.
No plea has yet been entered.
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