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Charge dropped against woman accused on SA doc murder

Couple accused of murder Adelaide doctor (file)

A young mother will spend Christmas at home with her infant son after she had charges for murdering a top Adelaide doctor dropped.

Jacinta Davila, 27, was released on home detention bail on Friday after prosecutors downgraded her charges to assisting an offender.

Davila and her partner Kerem Aydin, 22, were initially both charged with murdering respected paediatrician Michael Yung in a violent home invasion at Gilberton in the city’s inner-north earlier in December.

Magistrate Michael Jandy had previously heard Davila’s DNA was found on a headtorch at the suspected entry point, adjacent to a fly screen that had been sliced open, while Aydin was linked to blood stains at the scene.

While there was a relatively strong case that Davila had tampered with evidence by attempting to wash blood from clothing found at the couple’s Thebarton home, Jandy said there was an obvious question mark about the strength of evidence attaching her to the crime scene.

Although her DNA was found at the Gilberton house, it could have transferred from her to the crime scene via Aydin, he said.

“Absent of any other evidence putting this defendant at the scene of the crime at the time, the case will remain possibly equivocal in relation to her,” Jandy told Adelaide Magistrates Court last week.

On Friday, Jandy allowed Davila to be released from Adelaide Women’s Prison after prosecutors said they would not oppose bail.

She will remain on home detention at a house in Mile End, where she will be able to look after her and Aydin’s eight-month-old son.

Her lawyer, Alexander Jackson, had earlier said Davila was effectively the toddler’s sole carer and remaining in custody throughout a lengthy trial would bring undue hardship on him.

The couple had unsuccessfully attempted co-parenting after the child was conceived during a one-night stand, he said.

As part of her bail conditions, Davila must be fitted with an electric monitoring device, relinquish her passport, avoid all contact with Aydin and leave the house only with the express approval of a corrections supervisor.

Davila sobbed and thanked the judge after being granted bail.

Aydin remains charged with Yung’s murder and trespassing with the intention to steal more than $30,000 worth of property.

The pair will return to court in March.

-AAP

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