How a blocked visa led to the arrest of a woman accused in murder plot

The woman arrested over an allegedly relentless plot to murder her ex-husband was caught after being forced to leave Taiwan over a visa issue.

Lisa Lines, allegedly involved in a love triangle with two co-accused, is alleged to have engaged in multiple plots to kill Jonathon Hawtin, beginning in 2017.

As South Australian police re-opened their investigation into an initial attack that left Hawtin in a wheelchair, Lines was setting up a life overseas.

READ MORE: Severe storms and rain to smash most of country

In 2020 she entered Taiwan on a working visa, along with her two children, and moved into an apartment in New Taipei's district of Xindian.

Lines worked at a law firm about half an hour away and remained in the country for the next three years.

However, when an extension to her visa was denied, the mother-of-two needed to leave Taiwan to reapply, which allowed police to set up an operation to arrest her.

On November 15, Lines and her two children boarded a plane for Palau, where major crime detectives were waiting.

Authorities took custody of the children and returned them to their father, while officers searched the office of her Taipei apartment as part of what was now a joint international investigation.

READ MORE: Wolf spider lays eggs in man's toe while on cruise

Detectives are still seeking more information about her time in Taiwan and also want to speak to anyone who had contact with her before she left Australia.

Lines appeared in court in Adelaide for the first time yesterday, to face multiple charges of attempted murder and conspiracy to murder Hawtin.

Her alleged former boyfriend Zacharia Bruckner is also charged with conspiracy and attempted murder and her alleged former girlfriend Letiticia Fortune is charged with attempted murder.

Lines asked to be released on bail and indicated she would plead not guilty to all charges, however this request was denied and she will remain in custody until her next court appearance in May.

In 2017, Bruckner allegedly tried to kill Hawtin using an axe.

In the same incident, Bruckner suffered a gunshot wound to the hip, which police now allege was self-inflicted to stage a self-defence case.

Fortune is accused of attempting to smother Hawtin while he lay injured in the Hampstead Rehabilitation Centre in 2018.

She was allegedly sent to kill Hawtin by Lines and Bruckner after the axe incident.

Fortune, 34, has also faced court after she was arrested at an Everard Park home at the weekend.

A home detention report was ordered for Fortune, who will return to court in a week.

Bruckner was extradited from Brisbane last week on attempted murder and conspiracy to murder charges. He remains before the courts.