Bail Applications
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Upon being charged by police, one of the following can happen:
- Issued a notice to appear – When you are issued a notice to appear, you will be required to attend Court at a certain date and time. All this information will be on the notice to appear paperwork provided to you. When you first appear in Court, you will then be required to sign an undertaking for bail.
- Watch-house bail – If you are taken back to the police station, police may offer you bail through the watch-house. The watch-house is the holding cells at the station. If you are offered watch-house bail, there might be certain conditions police require you to agree to. This can be changed at a later date in Court during an application to vary bail, or in some circumstances, by agreement with police.
- Bail refused – In certain circumstances, police will not offer you bail and instead hold you in custody. In order to get bail, you will need to apply for bail in Court. Until you are given bail in Court, you will remain in custody and likely be transferred to a remand prison.
If you need to make an application for bail in Court, it is relevant to consider whether you are in a show cause position or not.
IF you are not in a show cause, Prosecutions will bear the onus of providing the Court with reasons as to why you should not be granted bail.
If you are in a show cause, you bear the onus of convincing the Court as to why you should be granted bail. There are certain risks the Court must consider, and you will need to show how any risks can be lowered to such a low likelihood that a Court is satisfied that the continued detention would be injustice.
If you are unable to get bail in the Magistrates Court, you can attempt to seek bail in the Supreme Court.
If you are unsuccessful in being granted bail, you will need to wait until there has been a change in circumstance until you can apply for bail again. Importantly, if you have attempted to be granted bail in the Supreme Court, you will only be able to apply to the Supreme Court in the future.
If you have been successful in gaining bail, but require the conditions of bail changed, you will need to seek a variation of bail.
Don't take your chances! Contact the experts.
Given the seriousness of these consequences, we recommend that you engage an experienced lawyer in order to provide you with advice on the best way to progress your matter, advocate for you in Court, and get you the best possible outcome.