Harder attitude to bail signalled by judge
Judges may take a tougher approach to electronically monitored bail applications after noting how easy it is for alleged offenders to ditch their bracelets and abscond.
A harder attitude was evident as a series of bail applications were heard by Judge Alistair Garland at the Christchurch District Court today.
Details of bail application hearings are not allowed to be reported but Judge Garland gave permission for his general comments to be published.
The comments were made after a weekend when a convicted sex offender under electronic monitoring for a 10-year extended supervision order was alleged to have cut off his bracelet and absconded.
Judge Garland was not considering bail in that case – it was called in another court – but one of the hearings involved a case where an alleged victim feared for his safety.
Judge Garland said: “This court is frequently told that electronically monitored bail will help keep victims or witnesses safe because the authorities will know where the defendant is at any given time.
“That was meant to have improved with GPS-monitoring. Unfortunately that is only the case if a defendant is compliant.”
He noted that the authorities were fitting electronic monitoring bracelets that could be “cut off with ease”. That meant that GPS tracking was not possible.
In cases where alleged offenders could slip a bracelet off, they could simply leave it behind and abscond without the authorities being aware. He understood that in cases where the bracelet was cut off, a signal was sent to the monitoring firm and the authorities were notified.
Defence counsel Clayton Williams, speaking for one of today’s applicants, said he hoped that the behaviour of people who were circumventing the system would not tarnish bail applications being made by others.
Judge Garland replied: “It does make it more difficult for other persons to persuade the court that the risks can be mitigated.”
Category: News
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