Applying For Bail

A Summons is a requirement for you to attend court on a specific date. 

If you do not attend court, the prosecution can request a warrant for your arrest. This means that you will be arrested and brought to court by the police.

You are required to attend court upon receiving a Summons, even if you are represented by a criminal lawyer.

Bail is generally considered for more serious charges and means that the police are releasing you from the police station.

Bail can be with or without conditions. Common bail conditions include:

• A personal undertaking, requiring you to pay a sum of money if you fail to attend court
• A surety, requiring another person to pay a sum of money if you fail to attend court
• A residential condition, requiring you to reside at a particular address
• A curfew to ensure that you are at home within a certain time
• Protective bail conditions preventing you from contacting or approaching the complainant or potential witnesses
• Handing in your passport
• Not to leave Western Australia
• Not to be within a certain distance of points of departure (eg the domestic and international airport)

Regardless of the conditions, you will be required to attend court on a specific date. 

If you do not attend, you can be arrested by the police,  your bail may be revoked and you may be held in prison until your matter is resolved.

If the police refuse to release you on bail, they are required to take you to the Magistrates Court as soon as is practicable.

The police can refuse to release you on bail if they consider the charge(s) to be very serious, or if you have a significant criminal history, or if they have concerns that you may not attend your court hearing.

You should speak to a criminal lawyer about applying for bail. It is vital that your bail application is done properly the first time, because if the Magistrate refuses to release you, it is very difficult to apply a second time.

If the court refuses to release you on bail, bail will not be considered unless you can show that:

• New facts have been discovered
• New circumstances have arisen
• Circumstances have changed since the last occasion
• You failed to adequately present your case for bail on the previous occasion

If you are not granted bail by the court, you will be taken to prison until your charge has been dealt with. For some people, this could mean a matter of weeks, months or years.

If you are in the Perth Metropolitan area and male, you will most likely go to Hakea prison; if you are female, you will likely go to Melaleuca Prison. Both prisons are in Canning Vale.

Depending on the length of time you are to spend in prison and the volume of people in the prison, you may be moved to a different one.

If you are refused bail by the court, bail will not be considered again unless you can show that:

• New facts have been discovered
• New circumstances have arisen
• Circumstances have changed since the last occasion
• You failed to adequately present your case for bail on the previous occasion

If you are not granted bail, you will be taken to prison until your charge has been dealt with. For some people, this could mean a matter of weeks, months or years.

If you are in the Perth Metropolitan area, for males, you will most likely go to Hakea Prison. For females, you will likely go to Melaleuca Prison. Both of these prisons are in Canning Vale. Depending on the length of time you are to spend in prison, and the volume of people in the prison, you may be moved to a different prison.

A common way you can help the accused person is to be their surety.

A surety is a signed undertaking, signed by a family member or friend, which agrees to forfeit a sum of money if the person does not attend court.

You need to show proof of assets if you are signing a surety undertaking for someone.

If the person attends court as required, you will not have to pay any money.

If the person does not attend court, the State can make an application to the court for you to pay the surety amount.

The surety can be for the next court appearance or it can be an ongoing surety for the whole time that the person’s matter is in court. It’s preferable to have an ongoing surety.

If bail conditions change, the surety will have to sign a new undertaking.

In some circumstances, the court may impose a bail condition that the person has to pay a cash deposit. 

In this case, the cash deposit will have to be paid before the person can be released. This obligation often falls to a friend or family member.

However, a cash deposit is not very common, and in most circumstances, no money will need to be paid for bail.

Sometimes, conditions of bail may prevent you from working or seeing your children. In this case, you can apply to the court to vary your bail conditions.

You should obtain proof of your employment and explain how the conditions are impacting your employment.

You should seek advice from a criminal lawyer regarding an application to vary your bail conditions.

In some cases, it may be appropriate to change your bail conditions. For example, if the alleged offence is against your child or employer.

The first thing you do if you miss a court appearance is call a criminal lawyer for advice. 

If you were required to attend court as per a Summons or Bail and you do not attend, there may be an arrest warrant issued.

If there is an arrest warrant issued, you should attend your closest police station or courthouse as soon as possible with identification. If you do not, the police can come to your house or place of work and arrest you.

Your matter will be listed in court and you will then have to ask the Magistrate to give you bail again.

If you have missed a court appearance, you should seek advice from a criminal lawyer

The impact of breaching your bail conditions can depend on what you have done to constitute the breach.

The following may then occur:

• You may be charged with breaching your bail
• Your bail may be revoked on the prosecution’s request
  • If your bail is revoked, you will be taken to prison and kept there until your charge has been dealt with

If you have concerns regarding a breach of bail, you should seek advice from a criminal lawyer immediately.

If you’re charged with a criminal offence while on bail, you will at best be released on a Summons, Court Hearing notice or Police Bail and at worst become a ‘Schedule 2’ offender.

A Schedule 2 offender is somebody who is on bail for a serious offence and is then charged with another serious offence while on bail.

“Serious offences” are listed in the Bail Act, and can include offences such as burglary, robbery, stealing a car, stalking, deprivation of liberty, indecent assault, assault occasioning bodily harm, grievous bodily harm, possession of a prohibited drug with intent to sell or supply and breach of restraining order. Please note that this is not an exhaustive list.

In order to get bail again, you must show exceptional circumstances.

If you are not a Schedule 2 offender, the police will need to decide whether to release you on a Court Hearing notice, Summons or Police Bail, or whether they should refuse you bail and take you to court for bail consideration.

If you’re in this situation, speak to a criminal lawyer immediately to find out whether you have exceptional circumstances to apply for bail again.