Can a plaintiff do anything to stop defendant being bailed?

tracey turnblad

If bail is granted is there anyway for a plaintiff to appeal it?

Peregrinus

There aren't any plaintiffs in a criminal case. And there's no question of bail in a civil case.

In a criminal case, the State can appeal a decision to grant bail (or a decision about the conditions on which bail will be granted). There's nothing to stop the victim of the crime from asking the State to do that. But not that "the victim doesn't want bail to be granted" is not in itself grounds for an appeal.

tracey turnblad

Sorry I don't know much about courts so thanks for that. So I can ask the state to appeal but can't appeal directly to the judge himself?

Peregrinus

That's right. If you're the victim of the crime you're not a party in the case (the parties are the state and the defendant). You're a witness. As a witness you get to give evidence (at the appropriate time) but you don't get to make arguments or submissions regarding the conduct of the case.

What you can do is (a) ask the prosecution to oppose bail/appeal the grant of bail, and (b) make sure they are aware of any relevant information/facts that they could put to the court in connection with that. "Tracey really wants this guy locked up immediately!" is not a relevant consideration in a bail application, but it would be relevant if the defendant has made threats to you or to other witnesses, has attempted to interfere with evidence or has indicated that he will do so, seems likely to flee rather than face trial, etc, and if you know of any facts of this kind you should make sure the guards/the prosecution know also.

tracey turnblad

Thanks for the information.

GM228

Peregrinus wrote: »

That's right. If you're the victim of the crime you're not a party in the case (the parties are the state and the defendant). You're a witness.

Unless you take a private prosecution.

I assume in such a case the private individual can oppose bail/appeal the grant of bail in the same way as the state?

Peregrinus

Yes, I'd assume so too. But private prosecutions are vanishingly rare, and the circumstances in which a private prosecution might be brought are likely to be circumstances extremely conducive to the grant of bail, aren't they?

Mr. Incognito

No they can't.

People are presumed to be innocent until proven guilty and innocent people do not have their liberty taken away

An unbiased person (judge) assesses flight risk, seriousness of the charge etc to assess flight risk for bail.

4ensic15

GM228 wrote: »

Unless you take a private prosecution.

I assume in such a case the private individual can oppose bail/appeal the grant of bail in the same way as the state?

A private prosecution is always initiated by way of summons. Unless the accused is arrested during the course of the proceedings for some reason such as failure to appear, the question of bail would only arise on the case being sent forward to the circuit Court, in which case it would have been taken over by the DPP. If the accused was arrested on foot of a bench warrant, it is unlikely that the private prosecutor would know about it until after the accused had been arrested and appeared before a judge, in which case there would only be gardai present in court when bail was being considered.