Territorians left to ‘rot on remand’ spending in excess of 100 days behind bars before local court hearings finalised

Territorians who are fighting charges against them are spending on average 100 days behind bars waiting to clear their names. Here’s why legal experts say our justice system is ‘buckling’.

The NT Local Courts have released new data showing that the average remand wait times have doubled over the past decade, while the number of people behind bars waiting for a lower court sentence has tripled. Picture: Pema Tamang Pakhrin

Territorians who are protesting their innocence are being left to ‘rot on remand’ as the justice system buckles under the pressure of increased court hearings.

The NT Local Courts have released new data showing the average remand wait times have doubled over the past decade, while the number of people behind bars waiting for a lower court sentence has tripled.

On average a Territorian who is denied bail in the local court will wait 100 days for their matter to be finalised, compared to just 55 days on remand in June 2016.

Currently only 66 per cent of Local Court matters are finalised within the targeted six months, down from 85 per in 2015.

The local court only deals with less serious criminal offences such as driving matters, minor drug offences, stealing and property crimes and minor assaults, with lawyers and judges warning that the growing waitlists are putting vulnerable people at risk of spending excessive periods behind bars.

This masthead is aware of a 57-year-old ‘long grasser’ who spent 153 days “rotting in jail” for a crime he was only sentenced to three months over.

Ivan Wurramarrba was arrested in January and charged with using “obscene language”, refusing to give his name to police, and assaulting an officer.

In Darwin Local Court in April — four months after his arrest — Mr Wurramarrba’s lawyers made an application for bail and warned that the homeless man could spend more time on remand than any potential sentence.

His lawyer alleged that police body camera footage showed Mr Wurramarrba’s spitting on the ground, not at the officer, which was the basis of the assault charge.

She also alleged that the footage recorded the cop telling the man “I don’t give a s--t” and “f--k off”, before her client responded with his own criminalised language.

However, Judge John Neill asked Mr Wurramarrba’s lawyer “Why are you wasting my time here?” as he could not give bail to the “vulnerable” man with 18-pages of antecedence and 15 warrants for failure to attend court.

“Let me express my amusements that this man will sit there in prison because his lawyers would rather make a bail application with no new material whatsoever,” Mr Neill said.

“I hope that the lawyers representing him take into consideration whether they allow him to rot in jail by not listing the matter for hearing.”

In Darwin Local Court in April — four months after his arrest — Mr Wurramarrba’s lawyers made an application for bail and warned that the 57-year-old homeless man could spend more time on remand than any potential sentence. Picture: Jason Walls

Mr Wurramarrba spent another 21 days in prison before his final hearing, where the charges of using indecent language and contravening the requirement of an ID were withdrawn.

Mr Wurramarrba pleaded guilty to assaulting an officer and was sentenced to three months in prison — despite already spending five months and 17 days waiting for his case to be finalised.

It also comes as the NT Coroner prepares to investigate the death in custody of a 66-year-old Indigenous man who spent his final 695 days locked in a Territory prison cell waiting to be sentenced over a stolen phone and wallet.

Criminal Lawyers Association NT President Beth Wild said the latest data portrayed a justice system that was “buckling under pressure” with “no solutions being offered”.

“The amount of prisoners on local court remand has tripled in the last 10 years,” Ms Wild said.

“This is not due to an increase in crime as the matter of criminal lodgements, that is the amount of new matters being listed, has actually decreased over the same period.”

The NT Court data showed while the number of criminal offences had dropped over the decade — from 46,796 cases to 36,108 court cases in 2024-25 — the number of adjournments had blown out, with 26,845 more delay orders over the past 12 months compared to 2015.

“While there are less new matters, cases are being adjourned more, which means the court lists are high,”Ms Wild said.

“The courts need to be funded adequately so that they can fulfil their vital function. This may mean greater investment in court staff and ensuring there are sufficient judicial officers.”

Criminal Lawyers Association NT President Beth Wild said the latest data portrayed a justice system that was “buckling under pressure” with “no solutions being offered”. Picture: Zizi Averill

The 2024-25 budget allocated $26.3m to the local courts and tribunals, $951,000 less than what was given in the previous financial year after “one off” payments to “support additional judiciary” was not continued.

Ms Wild said the growing number of those on remand had a wide-reaching impact, with the prisons unable to deliver the full range of rehabilitative and educational courses to unsentenced people.

“The significant increase in remand prisoners and the total number of prisoners overall then impacts the prison,” she said.

NT Corrections confirmed of the 2268 people in Territory cells on Monday September 9, 45 per cent were on remand.

It said Aboriginal Territorians made up the vast majority of those in prison while unsentenced, with 94 per cent of Alice Springs and 84 per cent of Darwin remandees First Nations people.