Woman jailed for torching car after alleged shooting

Laine Clark | March 27, 2023

At a remote location at 4am, Isabella Mary Beatrice McLeod helped set a stolen car alight to destroy evidence after an alleged shooting.

McLeod, 28, began associating with criminals through a longstanding methamphetamine addiction, Brisbane District Court heard.

So when a woman she had met in prison asked for help to torch the car, McLeod may have assisted out of some sense of loyalty, the court was told.

After picking up the woman in her car, McLeod filled up a jerry can with fuel at a petrol station before meeting two people who arrived in the stolen vehicle in Brisbane’s north in November 2021.

The two people had used the stolen vehicle in the alleged shooting and have since been charged with attempted murder, the court heard.

After the stolen car was torched, everyone got into McLeod’s vehicle and she drove away from the Nudgee Beach location.

Judge Brad Farr said McLeod was not the “prime mover” but had ample time to reconsider her involvement in what he described as a particularly serious offence.

“It must be noted that you did engage in this offence with some degree of enthusiasm,” he said.

“It is alleged without argument that you knew that the purpose of the arson was to destroy evidence relevant to a serious criminal incident.”

McLeod was first introduced to meth by her first partner at the age of 13 and was addicted by mid-adolescence, the court heard.

She has since had a meth addiction combined with various personal mental health issues, defence barrister James Godbolt said.

McLeod had tried to get clean but relapsed in 2021 after her partner was killed in a motorcycle accident and again began associating with criminals, the court heard.

Mr Godbolt said in October 2021 McLeod was very seriously assaulted by individuals with “well known in the criminal world”.

“She ultimately has declined to give evidence in respect to those matters out of fear for her own safety,” he said.

“If she is sent to jail she would … need protection.”

McLeod had been seriously assaulted in jail, suffering facial fractures and surgery after she was incarcerated in late 2017, he said.

Mr Godbolt said McLeod still had her family’s support and if released on parole aimed to move into a long term rehabilitation centre in Brisbane.

Judge Farr said actual prison time was necessary.

However he said McLeod’s sentence and time served in custody ought to be mitigated after considering her addiction’s consequences on her life and psychological state.

McLeod was sentenced to two years in jail after pleading guilty to arson.

She will be released on parole after serving four months.