A Canberra woman allegedly defrauded of thousands by a criminal lawyer has denied she was "topping up" public funding of her son's case in a desperate attempt to get him bail.
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The Crown alleges Stephen Raymond Stubbs, 63, dishonestly took $30,000 from Anne Duffy, while also taking money from Legal Aid while working on her son's defence.
It's alleged he kept both Ms Duffy and Legal Aid in the dark about each other's contributions to Alexander Duffy's case.
Legal Aid is an official service that offers legal representation and funding for low-income Canberrans facing court.
Duffy, then 19, had been charged with assault and an act endangering life in November of 2008, charges later upgraded to conspiracy to commit murder. He was granted Legal Aid and Stubbs was his nominated lawyer.
The ACT Supreme Court heard in Stubbs' trial on Wednesday that Duffy made multiple applications for bail between his arrest in November 2008, and eventual release on bail for a second time in May 2009.
He had been granted bail in December of 2008, but breached conditions and was arrested again when he committed an assault in Civic in February 2009.
Under cross-examination by defence barrister Theresa Warwick, Ms Duffy said she had signed a letter drafted by Stubbs and sent to Legal Aid asking for an "extension" of funding, but believed it was for an original grant.
She denied being aware of a possible legal problem of false imprisonment and compensation from the ACT government, after the ACT Magistrates Court revoked bail that was granted by the ACT Supreme Court.
She said she did not remember that being discussed in a conference with Stubbs and Canberra barrister Richard Thomas, who Stubbs had engaged in the matter.
"You were anxious to get your son bail, would you say you were desperate?" Ms Warwick asked.
"I was as desperate as any mother could be, but I didn't know who to turn to or what to do," Ms Duffy said.
Ms Warwick suggested Stubbs had told Ms Duffy Legal Aid would not fund further bail applications, and that Stubbs would not go to court for free.
"And you said, 'I have to get him out or he'll kill himself?'" Ms Warwick asked.
"I may have said that," Ms Duffy said. But she denied Stubbs had ever mentioned to her that her son had Legal Aid.
Ms Duffy said she never would have paid Stubbs if she had known there was Legal Aid funding.
Earlier, Ms Duffy told the court: "I have always said ... I would do anything I could to pay for his defence."
Ms Warwick suggested to Ms Duffy that a $5000 cash payment she allegedly made to Stubbs never happened, and the $5000 cash related to surety Ms Duffy later paid to court.
"That's incorrect," she said. "I've got no reason to lie."
Stubbs faces 15 counts of dishonestly obtaining property by deception.
The trial continues before Justice John Burns.
