Jon Ross
This is a real case study by one of our lawyers. The person who is in charge of this area in the firm is Jon Ross. Jon is a Senior Associate at Doogue + George, bringing over 20 years of exclusive criminal defence practice from one of London's largest criminal defence firms. His practice covers serious and complex matters including large-scale fraud, violent crime, serious sexual offences, and gang-related cases across Magistrates' and Crown Courts.
View full profile →This is a case study on a bail application for contravening bail conduct conditions at the Sunshine Magistrates’ Court, where bail was granted after 42 days on remand.
What is alleged to have occured?
Previously, the accused had two bail applications listed during which times he had not been brought out to court. The client was in a show cause position as he was on bail when the new offending took place, paving the way to a charge of Contravene Bail Conduct Conditions. The police were also alleging unacceptable risk.
Our client was to appear via videolink for a bail application but the videolink did not work.
What happened at court?
We submitted that the application be heard despite our client’s absence and the Magistrate accepted this submission.
We acted on the client’s behalf at the Sunshine Magistrates’ Court. The charges involved were:
- Recklessly Cause Injury
- Unlawful Assault
- Theft
- Commit Indictable Offence Whilst on Bail
- Contravene Bail Conduct Conditions
- Affray
The prosecution case was very weak (with no evidence connecting our client to the offences which he was on remand for). It was our client’s first time in custody and he had already spent 42 days on remand while waiting for a bail application. The magistrate conceded that he could conduct the bail application in the absence of the accused, particularly given the recent issues at Sunshine court with up to 11 people not being brought out on particular days.
We cross examined the (nominal) informant to clearly show the weakness of the police case. Submissions were made to the Magistrate highlighting that our client’s continued detention in custody was not justified given the weakness of the case; and our client’s lack of prior convictions, stable address, and support of court services.
What was the result?
Bail was ultimately granted with some fairly strict conditions.
This was a good outcome especially given the fact that one of the offences is Contravene Bail Conduct Conditions.
DISCLAIMER: This is a real case study of an actual case from our files. Details pertaining to the client have been changed to protect their privacy. The sentence imposed and the charge have not been altered. These case studies are published to demonstrate real outcomes and give an indication of possible tariffs in Court. We do not guarantee a similar case on these charges will get the same result. Please note that we post results at our discretion, therefore while many case studies are average results, others are notable for their exceptional outcomes. PUBLISHED 23/01/2017
