Gerard Baden-Clay spends first night in jail on murder charge


Gerard and Allison Baden-Clay
GERARD Baden-Clay has spent his first night in prison, undergoing a health check before being placed in a 3m x 4m cell.

It was the end of a long day that included a magistrates court appearance and a bail application by his legal team.

There was standing room only in Courtroom 3 at the Roma Street arrest courts where the great-grandson of Scouts founder Lord Robert Baden-Powell yesterday appeared accused of murdering his wife Allison.

But the Brookfield real estate agent turned his back on all of them.

Instead, he perched on the end of the bench seat in the dock and looked straight ahead at Magistrate Liz Hall.

The charges against him were not read to the court, but the 41-year-old's lawyer, Darren Mahony, asked for the case to be set down for a committal mention on July 9.

Police have charged Baden-Clay with murdering his wife at their Brookfield home on or about April 19.

On the same dates, he has also been charged with interfering with a body.

His lawyers yesterday afternoon applied for bail in the Supreme Court, but the application will not be heard until Thursday, June 21.

Until then, his home will be Brisbane's Arthur Gorrie Correctional Centre.

Yesterday, Baden-Clay was forced to change into a prison smock and fed beef stroganoff with pasta penne for dinner.

A Queensland Corrective Services spokesman said all prisoners had to be assessed to find out if they were a suicide risk before being imprisoned.

"Prisoner Baden-Clay underwent a medical assessment prior to undergoing an induction," the spokesman said.

"At induction, the prisoner would have been informed about his obligations, rights and entitlements.

"He will be in a smock and placed in a cell by himself."

The Courier-Mail has been told all prisoners are initially placed under observation.

"There is an understanding that many people are under enormous emotional pressure when they are first admitted to a prison," the QCS spokesman said. "He will be interviewed by psychologist or a correctional counsellor to identify any immediate risks including self-harm."

Baden-Clay appeared yesterday in Brisbane Magistrates Court for a first appearance in the same pink and white plaid shirt and gray pants he wore the day before when he was arrested.

He did not face the public gallery on either of the two occasions he went before the court.

None of his family were in the court room.

It's understood Baden-Clay had no warning he would be charged when police took him for questioning at Indooroopilly police station on Wednesday.

Mr Mahony told The Courier-Mail after emerging from the station that police intended to charge his "devastated" client with murder and he intended to "vigorously" defend it.

While most Queenslanders were tuning into the State of Origin, it was an early night for Baden-Clay.

The father-of-three was flanked by detectives when he arrived at the Brisbane Watchhouse in the back of an unmarked police car about 6.40pm.

Inside the watchhouse later that night, officers would have charged, fingerprinted and photographed him and asked if he had any medical issues that needed attention.

It would have been lights out around 8.30pm when all prisoners were locked down.

But Baden-Clay would have been woken around 5am yesterday, the same time news crews began setting up outside the courthouse to cover his case.


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