Ettridge v Director of Public Prosecutions

The applicants, Ettridge and Hanson, sought bail pending the hearing of their applications for special leave to appeal against a refusal of bail by an intermediate appellate court. This refusal of bail followed their convictions, but before their substantive appeals against those convictions had been heard by the intermediate court. The Director of Public Prosecutions opposed the applications.

The central legal issue before the High Court was whether the applicants had demonstrated exceptional or special circumstances warranting the grant of bail at this stage of the proceedings. This involved considering the prospects of success on their applications for special leave to appeal and their substantive appeals, as well as the principles governing the High Court's intervention in state discretionary bail matters.

Callinan J dismissed the applications, finding that the applicants had not established the requisite exceptional or special circumstances. His Honour noted that it was not possible at this stage to form a confident view about the outcome of the substantive appeals against conviction, and that it was inappropriate for a single Justice of the High Court to embark on a detailed factual exploration. Furthermore, the High Court is not a sentencing court, and its general practice is to remit sentencing matters to the intermediate court. The applicants had not yet succeeded in obtaining special leave to appeal the Court of Appeal's refusal of bail, and it was considered unlikely that bail would be granted by a Full Court when the substantive appeal had not been heard. The relatively prompt hearing of the substantive appeal was also a relevant factor.