A WOMAN who allegedly broke into a home at Hamilton, pushed a 92-year-old woman over and stole her handbag has been granted NSW Supreme Court bail to avoid becoming "homeless" because Housing NSW were threatening to terminate her tenancy if she remained behind bars.
Wendy Gaye Smith, 46, has been charged with aggravated break and enter and commit serious indictable offence and is accused of breaking into a home in Denison Street at Hamilton about 10.30pm on January 31 this year.
Ms Smith allegedly broke in through a window while a 92-year-old woman was in her bedroom getting ready to go to sleep.
She allegedly pushed the elderly woman, causing her to fall before stealing the woman's handbag, cash and bank cards.
Ms Smith allegedly fled while the woman called for help.
The 92-year-old woman was treated by paramedics for cuts and a shoulder injury and Ms Smith was arrested the next day.
She was on bail for two other matters and serving an intensive corrections order at the time of the break-in, the court heard.
Ms Smith was charged and refused bail and had spent the past six months behind bars before making an application for Supreme Court bail on Friday, her lawyer citing the delay in getting a trial date, Ms Smith's vulnerability in custody and the prospect that she was going to lose her home of six years if she remained behind bars.
Justice Deborah Sweeney said proceedings were underway for Housing NSW to terminate Ms Smith's tenancy at a home in Fairfield Avenue, New Lambton if she remained behind bars after August 1.
Ms Smith is the aunt of Jie Smith, who was in 2022 found not guilty of murder but guilty of manslaughter over the death of a six-month-old boy who suffered fatal injuries at her single-storey fibro house in Fairfield Avenue on a night in February, 2019.
Ms Smith was not at the home at the time and was not involved in the boy's death.
Despite prosecutors saying it was a strong case against Ms Smith and her long criminal history of similar offending meant she would serve a jail term if convicted, Justice Sweeney said she could be granted strict conditional bail due to the fact she was likely to lose her home, had an intellectual disability and faced a delay in getting a date in Newcastle District Court.
Ms Smith, who is still serving the balance of a revoked ICO and will have to go before the parole board, was ordered not to go into Hamilton and must comply with a curfew and report daily to police when she is released.
Her matter is next listed in Newcastle Local Court on Wednesday when she is expected to enter a plea.
