Our client is a family man and hard working businessman facing numerous allegations of stealing, brought by his sister in relation to their parents estate. Our client returned to Australia from business overseas, completed his quarantine period and was the subject of a welcoming arrest outside his hotel by investigating police. After being taken to a police station and charged, onerous bail conditions were set, including surrender of his passport and twice weekly reporting, thus preventing him from visiting relatives in country WA and operating his business franchise interstate and overseas.
After a contested bail variation hearing, and with a substantial increase in the surety undertaking, we successfully varied our client’s bail to remove the reporting conditions and secured the return of our client’s passport. Two weeks later, we received notice of an application by the prosecution to reverse the Magistrate’s decision, on the strength of the investigating officer’s affidavit, the tenor of which was ferocious and grounded in a misconceived interpretation of facts. Whilst highly irregular, we nevertheless returned to Court and were able to persuade the Magistrate to dismiss the application, which had no merit and was merely an expression of the investigating officer’s unhappiness with the decision of the Magistrate to remove reporting conditions and return our client’s passport.
