Bail Tales-Setting the Stage

• Author: Gary T Trotter
• Pages: 1-3

1

Bail Tales — Setting the Stage

Incident: Brenda and a couple of friends decide to spend

their Saturday evening enjoying a few drinks at a

bar in a large urban centre. Later in the even ing, as

alcohol is owing freely, a ght breaks out between

some men. ere is gunre shortly after wards, and

Brenda is shot in the upper leg by a stray bullet. She

bleeds to death at the scene, before paramedics are

able to get her to the hospital. It would later be re-

vealed that the person who red the fatal shot was

on bail while awaiting trial on charges of assault

and threatening.

Public reaction: When it is discovered that the accused per-

son was out on bail at the time, the press cover-

age is intense. Questions are raised about guns in

our society, the usefulness of our bail system, and

the competence of the personnel making bail de-

cisions. Politicians seize the opportunity to speak

out about the incident and pledge to crack down on

this ty pe of behaviour.

Incident: Glen, who is forty-eight years old, was charged

with sexua lly assaulting his former girlfriend ’s

fteen-year-old daughter. It is alleged to have oc-

curred eleven years ago. As a young ma n, Glen

accumulated a criminal record, mainly related to

his abuse of alcohol. Consequently, he was denied

bail, and waited more than a year i n custody. In the

middle of his tria l, the prosecution all but admitted