Obeid v R (No 2)

The parties involved in this appeal are Obeid, the appellant, and the respondent, the Crown. Obeid was convicted on several charges and sentenced to imprisonment. He now seeks to be released on bail pending the outcome of his appeal against the conviction and sentence. The court was required to decide whether special or exceptional circumstances exist to justify granting bail in this case. Various factors were considered, including Obeid's age, health, the level of uncertainty in the area of law that is the subject of one ground of appeal, and the significant proportion of the custodial sentence likely to be served before the appeal is finalised. Additionally, the court considered whether there are sufficient prospects of a successful appeal.

The court found that the majority of the proposed grounds of appeal concerned points that should have been raised at the trial. Obeid provided no explanation for his failure to raise these points at the trial. The court concluded that special or exceptional circumstances had not been shown. Consequently, the application for bail was refused. The court carefully weighed the various factors and determined that the balance did not favour granting bail in this instance.