Alleged criminals set to walk free with trial wait times blowing out to three years

Suspects on serious charges could walk free from Victoria’s courts thanks to a crisis sparked by COVID-19, prompting one of the state’s top judges to call for urgent action.

Justice Lex Lasry.

One of Victoria’s most senior judges has warned Victoria’s court backlog crisis has reached crisis point that will see alleged criminals who are facing serious charges being released on bail.

Justice Lex Lasry, in a bail decision, has called for urgent resourcing to deal with the growing pending caseload that has seen expected trial wait times blow out to three years.

Justice Lasry said such delays would “in almost every case” lead to exceptional circumstances that could warrant courts granting bail.

With about 200,000 pending cases across Victoria’s court system, judicial figures have been lobbying for help to clear the backlog.

There are hopes a proposal to convert unused office space in Melbourne’s CBD into temporary courtrooms could see cases accelerated.

Justice Lasry, one of the state’s longest serving Supreme Court judges, said not enough was being done to tackle the crisis.

>>READ THE FULL JUDGEMENT HERE

“In my view, significant effort needs to be made to adequately resource the courts, particularly the County Court, to enable them to properly deal with the current backlog of matters,” he said.

The comments came as Justice Lasry bailed a man facing serious commercial drug trafficking charges.

Unused office space could be rented to help clear the backlog of cases in Victoria’s court system. Justice Lasry says the County Court needs particular help. Picture: Penny Stephens

Justice Lasry said he harboured “serious reservations” about the man’s ability to comply with bail conditions because he had already breached bail once before.

But he imposed a range of strict bail conditions on the man, including he live in a drug rehab facility, that satisfied him the risk was mitigated to an acceptable level.

“This applicant, and a large number of others, are in a sense the victims of the delay caused by the COVID-19 pandemic,” Justice Lasry said. “Whilst the case against the applicant is strong and I accept that a finding of guilt for the commercial quantity trafficking charge may exceed the anticipated time that the applicant would spend in custody prior to his trial, this does not mean that delay is not inordinate.

“A period of pre-trial custody of three years will demonstrate exceptional circum-stances in almost every case.”

Under Victorian law bail must be refused to anyone facing serious charges unless they can establish “exceptional circumstances” that justify the grant of bail.

High-profile criminal lawyer George Balot said the decision meant “COVID-19 delays singularly can now constitute exceptional circumstances”.

“This unprecedented period of time is a prime opportunity for serious criminal offenders including large-scale drug ­importers and even murderers who otherwise would have little hope in establishing ­exceptional circumstances, to apply for bail and have a winning chance of being granted bail,” he said.

A state government spokeswoman said much had been done to address the ­unanticipated and far-­reaching impacts of the pandemic. It included an $80m injection “including digital and IT upgrades which can allow cases to be heard outside the courtroom — as well as physical measures such as renovating courtrooms and additional pop-up facilities to increase ­capacity”.

“It’s important to note that no changes have been made throughout the pandemic that relax the thresholds for bail, or for sentencing offenders,” the spokeswoman said.

“The risk to community ­remains the number one consideration in all bail decisions.”