DECEMBER 2025

Action: Sentence, Plea of Guilty
Charge: 33 charges including burglary, drug offences and failure to appear at court.
Result: 24 months imprisonment, parole eligible after 7 months.

36 year old man, repeat offender, was in custody on a return to prison warrant for previous offences. Since his late 20's he's has spates of homelessness, drug addiction and serious like offending mostly in order to feed his drug habit. In this case, like most, the defendant entered a plea of guilty early and resigned himself to a term in prison. 

We often get Legal Aid funded complex cases like this one to help defendants with appropriate sentencing. Such cases are not about getting the defendant out of prison or defending their actions. The legal representative's responsibilities are to ensure the defendant understands the allegations; that the charges are correct and described accurately; to ensure the magistrate understands the clients history and circumstances; and to research like sentences give the magistrate an appropriate punishment range to consider.

In this case, we conferenced with Prosecutions to correct one of the charges, and substitute two more charges to more appropriate lesser charges. We also pointed out that the defendant's drug history has never been addressed with any sort of rehabilitation. Prosecution argued for a 3 year sentence.

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Action: Supreme Court Bail
Allegations: 6 Domestic Violence & Coercive Control related, 15 Drug Supply related, 5 Sexual Assaults related
Result: Bail Granted

40 year old man, with no criminal history was originally investigated for alleged drug supplying allegations and was shortly afterwards accused of coercive control and other DV related offences. He was charged and given magistrates court bail. A few weeks later, further charges were made for unrelated alleged sexual assaults, but this time bail was refused.

An application to the Supreme Court was made for bail with a number of points being argued, including the strength of the evidence, the presumption of innocence, factors in his home life that would be detrimental should be remain in custody. 

Our application was successful and now our client is assisting in building his defence case against the allegations.

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Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.
This month's quick summary:

With December being such a short month because of the holiday break, it was a very busy month for adjournments accross different courts across the State. Many matters needed to be either finalised or squared away for a return in the new year. Our numbers include 5 Bail Applications, 8 Sentences, and 3 Traffic matters.

Courts This Month: Brisbane Supreme Court, Brisbane Magistrates, Caboolture Magistrates, Pine Rivers Magistrates, Sandgate Magistrates, Beenleigh Magistrates, Mackay Magistrates (Phone), Rockhampton Magistrates (Phone), Dalby Magistrates (Phone), Blackwater Magistrates (Phone).

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