Woman appeals sentence for robbery killing

A woman jailed for her part in a robbery that turned fatal could be released 18 months early after appealing her sentence.

Emma Louise Hinds, 45, was jailed in April for nine years with eligibility for parole after four-and-a-half years after pleading guilty in the Brisbane Supreme Court to the manslaughter of Megan Kirley.

Ms Kirley, 40, and her partner Pieter Pickering had gone to bed inside their shipping container home on a rural block at Karawatha, south of Brisbane, when Hinds and her four co-offenders arrived in the early hours of February 9, 2019.

Prosecutors said the group was intending to rob the couple of "money and most likely drugs".

Mr Pickering attempted to fight back with a pair of homemade nunchucks and Stafford Anthony Emmerson responded by firing a sawn-off rifle that hit Ms Kirley in the neck.

The co-offenders then fled with Mr Pickering in pursuit.

Hinds later texted two of the male co-offenders saying: "Thanks for last night, boys, I really appreciate it, hey."

The justice in Hinds' original sentencing accepted she did not know at the time that Ms Kirley had died from the gunshot wound.

The Court of Appeal handed down its decision on Hinds appeal against an excessive sentence on Friday.

Justice Philip McMurdo found Hinds had demonstrated a significant mitigating factor for sentencing in that she helped the police to detain one of her four co-offenders.

"Emmerson had told Hinds that he would use a firearm again, this time against police, rather than having to return to jail," Justice McMurdo stated in the appeal judgement.

"She was motivated to (call police and tell them where her co-offender was) because of her apprehension that Emmerson would shoot someone else. She placed herself in the dangerous position of returning to the address where Emmerson was, and waiting within there for the police to arrive. 

"This assistance revealed a genuine remorse, and it was highly beneficial."

Hinds' non-parole period was reduced to three years, meaning with time served she could be released as early as July 2024.

Another of Hinds' co-offenders, Kobi Daniel Oram, 25, also appealed his nine-year sentence, arguing the judge made an error by basing his punishment on a claim he was armed with some sort of bat during the robbery.

Oram's appeal was dismissed as the Court of Appeal found he was sentenced on the basis being in a group of co-offenders that were armed with a bat, meat cleaver and firearm.