A woman accused of paying to have her "prominent Canberran" parents murdered allegedly told a dark web user who she thought was a contract killer to "make it look like an accident".
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New details of the apparent assassination plot emerged on Monday, when it was also revealed that police are still investigating whether the woman might have enlisted more than one person for the job.
Police allege that the 26-year-old woman agreed earlier this year to give an unknown person $20,000 to kill her parents, and that she made an initial $6000 payment over the dark web in September.
The website in question is no longer active, and investigators believe the person who received the payment may have been a scammer who never intended to commit any murders.
The accused woman, who has been behind bars since her arrest earlier this month, made her latest appearance in the ACT Magistrates Court via video link from the Alexander Maconochie Centre on Monday.
She sat silently as her lawyer, Stephanie Beckedahl, formally entered pleas of not guilty to two counts each of attempted murder and inciting murder, as well as charges of burglary and theft.
The latter two charges relate to allegations that the woman broke into her parents' O'Malley home and stole $15,000 just three days before beginning to pay for their killings.
Chief Magistrate Lorraine Walker questioned on Monday whether she should extend a non-publication order that prevents media from identifying the woman or her parents.
She said if the 26-year-old had already given the apparent hitman her parents' names and details of how to target them, as police alleged, the publication of their names may not create any further risk.
"It seems to me at this stage that the concern for the safety of the [parents] is highly speculative," Ms Walker said.
But prosecutor Soraya Saikal-Skea told the court it was still "impossible to know" whether the parents remained in danger.
She said the "unknown and unidentified person" who had received the initial $6000 payment might be planning to do the job they had been hired for.
She added that they may not have retained the information they were given over the now defunct dark web site.
Others might also have been contracted and not provided details that would become readily available to the public if the woman was named and her parents therefore identified, Ms Saikal-Skea said.
The prosecutor also revealed for the first time on Monday that the murderous instructions allegedly given by the woman over the dark web had included a directive to make her parents' deaths appear accidental.
Ms Walker ultimately agreed to extend the name suppression until further order of the court.
She then adjourned the case until March 1 after Ms Saikal-Skea said a full brief of evidence was still a considerable time away, with police yet to disclose "a scrap" of material.
The accused woman, who was allegedly motivated by "financial gain", will remain in custody on remand for the time being.
She had planned to apply for bail on Monday, but withdrew the application.