Bail granted and no conviction for Sexual Touching, Assault Police, Resist Officer as Section 32 Mental health Application granted

Our client is a 28-year-old musician who had been struggling with mental health issues for a number of years.

He consumed a number of alcoholic drinks one night and went into a psychosis. He believed that his drink had been spiked, however there was no evidence to support this.

While in his psychosis, he was captured on CCTV footage following a female out from a train.
Footage at the train station showed him cover his face with a scarf, approach her and then grab her.

The alleged victim told Police that he had placed his fingers near her vagina and squeezed.

An hour later our client was discovered by Police a few streets away. He was incoherent.

Police arrested him and while transporting him to the Police Station, he threatened to take their firearms and shoot Police and himself.

Police restrained our client and scheduled him. He was kept in hospital for 5 days and once released, Police refused him bail.

Our client’s partner instructed us to make a bail application to have him released from custody.
When we spoke to our client, he advised us that he had no memory of the incident.

We immediately began preparation for the bail application by obtaining documents which confirmed our client’s history of mental illness.

We also obtained letters from his partner and family which confirmed that they were supportive of him and could ensure that he complied with any bail conditions.

Despite the seriousness of the offences and the fact that our client had a prior record for offences of violence, including domestic violence offences, we were able to secure him bail.

While our client was on bail, we arranged for him to begin intensive mental health treatment with one of our specialist psychiatrists.

We also began negotiations with Police to amend the Facts Sheet to paint our client in a more favourable light.

Ultimately, Police agreed to our amendments. A detailed Section 32 report was prepared and we listed the matter for a Section 32 Application.

In Court, we made lengthy submissions stressing the seriousness of our client’s mental condition, his lack of memory of the incident and the progress he had made with his treatment.

The magistrate accepted our submissions and granted the Section 32 Application. Our client and his family were overjoyed to have the charges dismissed.