After 14 months in custody accused of murdering the family matriarch, an artist mother and her two sons have been freed on bail - unopposed by the Crown and with the men to live at the scene of the alleged crime.
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Melissa Beowulf, 61, and her sons Thorsten Halley Beowulf, 32, and Bjorn Toren Beowulf, 31, were bailed in the ACT Supreme Court at a hearing on Wednesday ahead of their eight-week trial next year.
Thorsten and Bjorn Beowulf were released to live at the scene of the alleged murder, a home in the south Canberra suburb of Red Hill. They have agreed to grant the Crown and police access to the property.
Melissa Beowulf was bailed to a home in Deakin.
All three have pleaded not guilty to the murder of Katherine Helene Panin, who was the brother's grandmother and Melissa Beowulf’s mother-in-law.
Police have previously said they were called to the 81-year-old’s Red Hill home following a report a woman had fallen down stairs on October 12, 2015. She later died in hospital.
The three accused were arrested on August 25 last year and have been in custody since.
In the ACT there is a presumption against those accused of murder being granted bail. Those seeking bail ahead of a murder trial must show the court there are special or exceptional circumstances that warrant their release.
Barrister Ken Archer, for the two men, argued there were special or exceptional circumstances in the voluminous and complex material including tax and financial records - some 20 lever arch folders worth.
The court heard there were limitations accessing that material, mostly in electronic form, from the Alexander Maconochie Centre.
Chief Justice Helen Murrell accepted that in the case of the mother and sons there were special or exceptional circumstances. She noted too that they had no criminal history.
Prosecutor Margaret Jones also asked the judge to suppress the substantive material relating to the case, which had been summarised by the defence during the application for bail.
Chief Justice Murrell set out what the media could report on the case, which has been reported above.
She also said the media was permitted to report that the mother and her two sons had no criminal history and there was no concern they would not appear in court or commit further offences.
The three were given strict conditions to report weekly to police, surrender their passports, not leave the ACT and not approach airports nor the witnesses.
The alleged murder came months after the death of Ms Beowulf's husband Thorhammer "Thor" Beowulf, a sculptor and bonsai artist, in August that same year.
Sydney-raised Ms Beowulf, whose specialties were portraiture and sculpture, had once divided her time between the couple's shared studio in Canberra and her studio in Queen Street, Woollahra.
Her portrait of fellow artist Ken Done was a finalist in the Archibald Prize in 2000 and her 2001 portrait of Nancy Wake is in the National Portrait Gallery’s collection.
The trial is listed for eight weeks from February 18 next year.
