Parramatta Courthouse takes over as statewide bail court as part of domestic violence reforms after death of Molly Ticehurst

As part of domestic violence reforms following the alleged brutal murder of Molly Ticehurst, weekend and public holiday bail courts are now centralised to one virtual courthouse from every corner of the state.

Parramatta Courthouse has become the state’s centralised hub for weekend and public holiday bail sessions. Picture: John Appleyard

Accused crooks refused police bail and facing fresh charges are now being beamed into a centralised and virtual Christmas hub for alleged criminals from across the entire state as part of reforms introduced following the brutal allegedly murder of Molly Ticehurst.

Quietly dubbed The Bail Bunker – a play on the National Rugby League’s policing headquarters – Parramatta Courthouse has been quietly transformed over the past few months to take the entire load of bail courts once heard across major centres every weekend and on public holidays.

In one of the state’s largest ever judicial appointments, seven new acting magistrates were sworn in last week while a further 11 magistrates will start work on the bench in the new year.

The changes followed Ms Ticehurst’s death in April, where police allege her ex-boyfriend murdered her 15 days after he was granted bail by a court registrar at Dubbo on charges including three counts of sexual assault and four counts of stalking and intimidating the young Forbes woman.

A huge public backlash forced sweeping bail reforms, including banning the practice of unsworn registrars having the ability to grant bail for serious crimes, as well as the introduction of ankle bracelets to monitor serious offenders and changes in sentencing.

A host of reforms were introduced following the death of Molly Ticehurst in her own Forbes in April.

Police allege Daniel Billings was granted bail while on charges of sexually assaulting and stalking Molly. Some 15 days after his release, Molly was dead.

Registrars once sat on most weekends and public holidays across major hubs across the state including Newcastle, Wollongong, Wagga Wagga, Dubbo, Tamworth, Port Macquarie and Lismore. Magistrates have always sat at Parramatta during these periods to oversee Sydney matters. 

Those weekend bail courts began shutting down in September before Parramatta became the central hub over the festive break.

Only sworn magistrates will hear bail applications on weekends and public holidays at the centralised courts based at Parramatta Courthouse. Picture: John Appleyard

The Bail Bunker will include multiple local courts for adults and children’s courts for juveniles, with each accused and their lawyers dialling in via audio visual link from across the state.

On Monday, there were 316 individual matters on the statewide list compared to 276 cases on Sunday and 389 cases on Saturday.

A normal local weekday court list for Parramatta can reach over 400 cases.

The bail centralisation followed the Minns government committing $34m over four years to replace all registrar sitting days across the state with sworn magistrates, and the need for more infrastructure to successfully carry the load of the virtual court system.

The seven acting magistrates sworn in last week will begin sitting in the bail courts over the Christmas and New Year shutdown, alongside a number of existing, experienced acting magistrates.

NSW Attorney-General, Michael Daley, during a press conference regarding bail law reform in May. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Nikki Short

“Eleven new magistrates will be sworn in at the beginning of next year; one of the largest appointments of judicial officers in the state’s history,” a spokesperson for the Attorney-General Michael Daley said.

“They will initially be posted in different parts of NSW as part of their training, including regional circuits, before presiding at a more permanent location.”

A Department of Community and Justices spokeswoman said the additional magistrates were funded for two reasons – to implement bail reforms in relation to domestic and family violence, and to address the workload of the Local Court.

“A significant part of the local court’s workload is related to domestic and family violence’” the spokeswoman said.

The Bail Bunker is one of several reforms to domestic violence laws this year, which included expanding the “show cause” offences, where the onus has now been placed on allegedly offenders on why they should be released on bail.

Coercive control offences were also introduced in July and the electronic monitoring of people charged with serious domestic violence offences.

And bail decisions can now be “stayed” and the accused kept in custody on remand while prosecutors make a detention application to the NSW Supreme Court.