Woman accused of shooting two people denied bail

Laine Clark | March 30, 2023

A sawn-off shotgun was fired accidentally in a Queensland hotel room, injuring two people including a 16-year-old girl, a court has heard.

Karleeah Marie Jensen, 18, was charged when a 37-year-old woman and the teenager were hospitalised by the alleged shooting at the Toowoomba venue, west of Brisbane, in February.

Police allege a group of people known to each other were at the Annand Street hotel when the shotgun discharged in a “closed room”.

Justice Peter Davis noted that Jensen had claimed the firearm had been accidentally discharged but dismissed her bail application in Brisbane Supreme Court on Thursday.

“She vehemently asserts that the alleged offending on 14th February was accidental,” Justice Davis said.

“Given the Crown’s submissions on how its case is to be framed, the applicant may be right about that.

“But of course the fact that the … injuries may have been accidental and not deliberately inflicted and the discharge of the firearm may have been accidental does not of course necessarily lead to an acquittal.”

The 16-year-old girl sustained a serious arm injury and was taken to a Brisbane hospital, police said.

The woman suffered chest and arm injuries and was transported to a Toowoomba hospital in a stable condition, police allege.

“Once it is accepted that the applicant was in a closed room with a loaded sawn-off shotgun, one would think that a case … (against Jensen) has some force and strength,” Justice Davis said.

Jensen was charged with one count each of grievous bodily harm, wounding, dangerous conduct with a weapon, unlawful possession of weapons and authority required to possess explosives.

“The applicant has clearly had a drug problem which has no doubt contributed to her past offending if not her present offending,” Justice Davis said of Jensen.

Justice Davis said he dismissed Jensen’s application on Thursday after considering her past conduct while on bail, her criminal history, the alleged offending’s circumstances and unresolved issues concerning her proposed bail address.

“The applicant has not discharged the onus upon her to show that her continued incarceration is not warranted and the application is dismissed,” he said.

Jensen is set to next appear in Toowoomba Magistrates Court next month.