Changing Bail Conditions and Breach of Bail
Changing or varying your bail conditions is a formal request to change the conditions of your bail which were initially set by the Court.
If you want to change your bail conditions, you need to make an application for variation of Bail. Bail conditions can be varied under certain circumstances. Adjustments can be made, but the conditions need to remain fair and practical so as to still ensure they are strict and serve their purpose. This could arise due to change of circumstances such as where you live, what work you do etc.
Generally, a bail variation allows you to change certain aspects of your bail to suit your current circumstances.
Bail variations commonly include changing the reporting requirements, amending curfews and residential conditions.
As a result of life circumstances changing, if the original bail conditions become impractical or not possible to comply with, then an application for variation of bail should be made as soon as possible, so as to avoid any breach of bail.
Examples of bail conditions which are commonly changed
- Residence conditions
- Reporting conditions
- Curfew conditions
Should you bring an application to vary your bail, you must give notice and serve a copy of the application to vary bail conditions on the Court and the police. There is no specific time frame, but reasonable notice must be given. In practice, this is about 3 days.
Who can bring a bail variation application?
Only an “interested person” can bring a bail variation application.
This is someone who is involved directly in your bail conditions and includes yourself, your lawyer, or a family member affected by your bail conditions.
An “interested person” is defined as anyone whose rights, interests or obligations are directly impacted by the bail conditions.
Factors the Court will consider when deciding to vary your bail conditions
The Court must ensure that the variations sought are appropriate and justified. This includes consideration of compliance, necessity and proportionality and unacceptable risk.
Breach of bail
Breach of bail is when you fail to comply with the conditions of your bail or fail to appear before a Court in accordance with a bail acknowledgment.
If you breach your bail conditions, the police can arrest you and charge you with a new offence. You may then be bail refused.
The penalties of breaching your bail conditions include fines, warnings, imprisonment and revocation of bail.
The offence of breach of bail is taken extremely seriously by the police and the Courts.
Breach of bail – what the police can do
The police can use their own discretion where there has been a breach of bail. This is for example, where you report to police a few minutes late and outside of the hours specified by the Court. They may decide to take no action against you.
If the breach is of a more serious nature, a warning may be issued. If the breach is very serious, then you can be arrested and brought to Court, in which case you will have to re-apply for bail.
Breach of bail – what actions the Court can take
A Magistrate or Judge may do the following should you breach your bail:
- Give you a warning
- Take no further action and release you on the same bail conditions
- Vary your bail conditions
- Revoke your bail
Breaching bail conditions for Domestic Violence Offences
If you have been charged with a domestic violence offence, the bail conditions will usually be the same as the AVO.
Breaching bail conditions for a domestic violence offence will usually result in a breach of AVO. This carries a fine of $5,500 and/or up to 2 years imprisonment.
Domestic Violence is dealt with very seriously in NSW and breaching your bail conditions and AVO conditions and can result in you being bail refused and facing further harsh penalties.
If you want to vary your bail conditions or should you breach your bail conditions and find yourself before the Court, contact one of our experienced lawyers at NCL so we can help you.
