Supreme Court Bail Applications

Bail is the conditional release of an accused person in the community whilst their criminal charge/s are ongoing. Bail may be granted at any time during the proceedings and may be with or without conditions. At the initial stage, after an arrest is made, Police officers can grant bail and impose bail conditions at the Police station. If the Police refuse to grant you bail the next opportunity to apply for bail is before a Magistrate in the Local Court. This is called a bail or release application. If a Magistrate refuses you bail, or you choose to not apply for bail at the Local Court, you can apply for bail before a Judge in the Supreme Court. The Supreme Court’s power to hear and determine a bail application is contained in section 66 of the Bail Act 2013 (“the Act”). 

Local Court vs Supreme Court Bail Applications

Unlike the local court, the Supreme Court requires an applicant to file and serve all material which they wish to rely upon during the bail application prior to obtaining a hearing date for the application. It is standard for the Applicant’s bundle to consist of proposed bail conditions, written submissions, psychologist reports, affidavits and surety/character acknowledgements. Once all material is filed with the Registry, the matter will be listed for ‘Callover’ which is a procedural mention in the Supreme Court to ensure compliance with the Practice Note. After this, the Court will make orders for the Crown to file and serve their bundle and for the Defence to serve any submissions in response as well as list the matter for a bail hearing. Due to these additional procedural requirements, Supreme Bail Applications have an expected delay of 8-12 weeks.  Local Court bail applications can be listed on much shorter notice (1-2 weeks), subject to the Court’s availability and material relied on is generally provided in Court on the day of the bail hearing.

At the bail hearing, the applicant will appear via audio visual link, unless there has been a specific request, which has been granted for the accused to appear in person. It is important that if a surety condition has been proposed that the acceptable person be present at the hearing in the event the Judge requires further evidence from the surety about the money to be forfeited, the living arrangements of the proposed address or an offer of employment. 

If the applicant is proposing to undertake a rehabilitation program while on bail, the Court may also want to hear evidence from somebody from the rehabilitation centre they plan to attend in this situation, the applicant will also need a letter from the rehabilitation centre agreeing to accept them and detailing the planned program.

Repeat Bail Applications

The Supreme Court is often the final avenue for bail in NSW. Once Bail has been refused in the Local Court, Section 74 of the Act restricts any subsequent applications being made, unless:

• The person was unrepresented when the previous application was dealt with and now has legal representation.
• Material information relevant to the grant of bail is to be presented that was not presented to the Court in the previous application.
• Circumstances relevant to the grant of bail have changed since the previous application was made.
• The person is a child, and the previous application was made on a first appearance for the offence.

If you have exhausted your possibility for Bail in the Local Court, you can still file an application in the Supreme Court – but again – you really only have one shot at doing it properly because of section 74. 

Supreme Court bail applications are typically more expensive and take longer to arrange and get a hearing date for compared to Local Court Bail applications. For this reason, it is important to have expert legal advice to guide you or your loved one through the options available to you, and to make sure you make the most of any chance to get bail. 

If you or someone you know requires legal advice or representation in a bail application, please contact Armstrong Legal.