Call to ease court time

Long legal process leads to confusion, no-shows

ALLEGED criminals are being asked to appear in court too many times, leading to a rise in the number of offenders not showing up, Gold Coast legal experts have said.

Their comments come after Magistrate Donald MacKenzie claimed on the weekend the Southport Courthouse was issuing about 300 arrest warrants every week.

Defence lawyers said while failures to appear are on the increase, it is not possible 300 people would be dodging court a day.

“Failure to appear, particularly within the Southport Court’s jurisdiction, is an offence, which is overly prevalent,” Mr MacKenzie said.

He made the comments while hearing the case of Shane Cole Braslin on Saturday in the Magistrates Court.

Braslin, who has failed to appear previously, was fined $500 for not appearing on his July 4 court date to face unlawful use of a motor vehicle charges.

“This court issues something like 300 warrants a week. People treat failing to appear in court as a joke,” Mr MacKenzie said.

“They know they are going to get arrested … and released by the magistrate, plead guilty, and get a fine.”

Every missed court appearance costs money – especially for a trial or hearing where witnesses and experts have arranged to attend court to give evidence.

Michael Gatenby, of Gatenby Criminal Law, said a large part in the rise in failures to appear was confusion.

“Some of the problem too is there are so many mentions of matters in court,” he said.

The court process at times requires matters to be adjourned multiple times while more evidence is gathered or legal processes take place.

Mr Gatenby said other jurisdictions had trialled using an SMS system to remind offenders of court days and called for a similar system.

Potts Lawyers director Bill Potts said court reforms introduced in 2010 designed to speed up the court system meant some matters were being adjourned for evidence to be provided to the defence.

“Rather than speeding up the system there has been a slowing up of the system as the matters are waiting for police to provide disclosure of documents,” he said. “We are now having anything up to 17 adjournment dates to ensure that discovery is given.”

Mr Potts said the large number of dates often led to defendants being confused about whether they were required or not. He said a review of the reforms was needed to ensure the court was working efficiently and transparently.