A young married couple smiled at each other, chatted and embraced in the dock of a Sydney court while facing serious charges including plotting a terrorist attack.
Alo-Bridget Namoa, who allegedly once described herself and Sameh Bayda as an "Islamic Bonnie and Clyde", faced a committal hearing in the Downing Centre Local Court on Wednesday.
The 20-year-olds are charged with conspiring to do an act in preparation for a terrorist attack, while Bayda is also charged with three counts of collecting terrorist-related documents.
Nicholas Robinson QC, for the prosecution, said the case involved 12 volumes of material with most of it relating to electronic evidence.
He referred to statements related to Jihad material, including one where Namoa allegedly downloaded 12 PDFs on Jihad type books which were then put on a hard drive computer at Bayda's residence.
Namoa is also charged with one count of possessing a hunting knife.
They smiled at each other and chatted, and embraced before each of two adjournments.
The case was first adjourned when the magistrate told the parties the dock was for one person, not two, and no other court was available.
She later said they could sit together but could not speak to each other.
Mr Foster asked for the ban to be overturned, saying they were entitled to speak to each other as it was a joint committal.
"There may be matters which arise which they wish to discuss between them," he said.
The magistrate later allowed them to sit together and talk.
Their lawyer, Geoffrey Foster, had asked magistrate Susan Horan to disqualify herself from the case, submitting a fair-minded observer may think she might not bring "an impartial mind" to the hearing.
She previously worked in the Commonwealth Director of Public Prosecutions in the organised crime and counter-terrorism branch and with the prosecution's solicitor in this case.
But Ms Horan refused the application, saying she knew nothing about this matter and was not hearing it to finality.
"I am confident I will bring the same impartial mind as I have in every other matter since my appointment to the bench," she said.
"I have every intention of fulfilling my judicial oath."
The case was adjourned to enable the magistrate to read the material, before hearing submissions on Thursday.
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