R v Alchin [2015] NSWSC 2112

Supreme Court New South Wales

Medium Neutral Citation: R v Alchin [2015] NSWSC 2112 Hearing dates: 16 February 2015 Decision date: 16 February 2015 Jurisdiction: Common Law Before: McCallum J Decision: Conditional bail granted Category: Principal judgment Parties: Crown (Regina) Ashley James Alchin (Applicant) File Number(s): 2015/14848

Judgment 1. HER HONOUR: Before the Court is a release application by Ashley James Alchin. He is 32 years of age. The applicant faces a series of charges in respect of which he has bail. He has been refused bail for an offence of aggravated entering a dwelling knowing there were people there. I have been addressed as to the strength of that charge and I accept it is one of word against word in circumstances of conflict between two families or people. 2. The applicant faces a show cause requirement and needs to demonstrate cause why his detention is not justified. Two matters have been identified in support of finding that the applicant has shown cause. One is the birth of the applicant's first child, who is three months old. That appears to be a matter which would motivate him to comply with conditional bail. 3. Secondly, the matter is an indictable matter which will have to be committed to the District Court and there is a likelihood of a lengthy period on remand awaiting the trial date. During that period the applicant would in all likelihood see very little of the child if bail is refused. That is a factor which seems to me to be likely to perpetuate the cycle of disadvantage and deprivation notoriously faced in indigenous communities and, as a matter of evidence in the material before me, specifically faced in the family of this applicant. If the Court can reasonably impose conditions which are calculated to break that cycle, in my view it should. That is a strong factor in my finding cause shown. 4. I am satisfied that there is a risk that the applicant would commit a serious offence if released on bail having regard to the matters in his history, but it is one which, I think, can be mitigated by conditions requiring him and encouraging him to engage with family life and to continue to engage with medical treatment through the Aboriginal Medical Service. 5. For all those reasons, I am satisfied that although there is a risk of his committing a serious offence and also endangering the safety of the victim, it is, I think, adequately mitigated by the conditions I propose to impose. It follows that I must grant bail.