A schoolgirl charged over an alleged plot to send thousands of dollars to Islamic State sat stony-faced for hours, hunched over in the dock of a Sydney courtroom on Wednesday as prosecutors detailed the elaborate investigation that led to her arrest.
But she was overwhelmed with emotion on Thursday when she learned she may spend several months behind bars.
The 16-year-old, who cannot be named, burst into tears and covered her face in her hands as Magistrate Paula Russell refused her bail application in Parramatta Children's Court.
The decision came two days after she was charged with collecting funds for a terrorist organisation.
The girl appeared to gesture towards her mother - who the court heard she had not seen since Tuesday, and is said to have taken ill over the stress of her child's arrest - before being led from the courtroom.
Her mother sobbed as her daughter disappeared from view, flanked by juvenile justice officials.
Defence barrister Michael Pickin had urged the magistrate to release the Year 12 student, who is months away from sitting her HSC exams, because of her prior good character and precarious mental health.
Police swooped on the teenager after 20-year-old Milad Atai allegedly met her in a Guildford park and handed over an envelope stuffed with $5000 cash earmarked for Islamic State.
It's alleged the girl had agreed to help wire the money to Islamic State frontlines.
The investigation that led to her arrest is said to have been underpinned by secretly recorded conversations, intercepted text messages and the involvement of a young man named only as "Abdul".
He was described by Mr Pickin as an "agent provocateur", or possibly a police informant, who had ingratiated himself into the schoolgirl's circle of associates by claiming he had a sister interested in travelling to the Middle East.
It's alleged the accused girl was in contact with the notorious Ahmed Merhi, who is said to have left Australia in 2014 and joined Islamic State fighters abroad, and that she said in one conversation with "Abdul" that the mooted $5000 Western Union transaction was not the first in which she had been involved.
Prosecutor Imad Abdul-Karim told the court on Wednesday that when "asked if the money would go to Islamic State, she says 'Yes, I just do what Ahmed tells me to do'".
Ms Russell said on Thursday she wasn't convinced the "exceptional circumstances" that would allow her to consider releasing the child existed, though she agreed the girl might be held on remand until 2017 before making it to trial.
"Such a delay, while undesirable, is not unconscionable," Ms Russell said.
Nor did she accept suggestions the prosecution case was flimsy or would necessarily unravel due to "questions of entrapment".
"On the contrary, on that material it would appear to be a strong case," the magistrate said.
The case returns to court in May.
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