Concerns have been raised in New South Wales parliament about why the police did not oppose Daniel Billings’ bail application at a court hearing two weeks before he allegedly murdered his ex-girlfriend.
Billings, 29, was granted bail after being charged with domestic violence offences against his former partner Molly Ticehurst, including three counts of raping and four counts of stalking and intimidating her.
Ticehurst’s body was found at her home in Forbes in regional NSW on 21 April. Billings was charged with her domestic violence murder and breaching an apprehended violence order.
Billings had been released on bail at a hearing at Dubbo local court on 6 April. It was a Saturday so there was no magistrate. Instead, his application was heard by a registrar, a court officer without the same legal training.
The NSW government has launched a review of the decision of the court to grant Billings bail, including whether Sydney magistrates should hear future regional bail applications via audio-visual link if there is no local magistrate available.
During a discussion about domestic violence in NSW parliament on Wednesday, the Greens justice spokesperson, Sue Higginson, said she was concerned that the police prosecutor did not oppose Billings’ bail application on 6 April.
“There are questions raised about the registrar, the court, and many other aspects of the system. But this is the one question that just keeps looping around in my mind,” Higginson told parliament.
Reading out part of the court transcript in parliament, Higginson quoted what the prosecutor said when the registrar asked him what he had to say in relation to Billings’ bail application.
“These are always difficult ones, registrar, because the defendant’s got no criminal history. But the allegations are quite serious,” the prosecutor told the court.
Despite raising these concerns, the prosecutor did not oppose Billings’ bail application.
Billings’ lawyer told the court her client had informed her he would agree to any bail conditions deemed necessary.
The registrar noted that Billings had no previous criminal record, however she said his charges were “very serious” and she was going to grant him “very strict bail”.
Former magistrate David Heilpern told Guardian Australia that he believed if the police had opposed bail, most registrars in these circumstances would have refused it.
“In retrospect, the criticism of the registrar was misplaced,” he said.
Heilpern said the granting of bail was an “art not a science” and that he had made “wrong” decisions that had had serious consequences in his 22 years presiding over NSW local courts.
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“But I think the solution is to have very good swift processes of … review of bail,” he said. “If it was wrong, and police believed it to be wrong, why wasn’t it rapidly reviewed by a proper judicial officer?”
Billings reportedly returned to court on 18 April, this time before a magistrate, where again police did not request that he be returned to custody.
Ticehurst’s death has prompted an outpouring of grief and anger in her close-knit regional community as well as calls from across the state for the government to do more to address domestic violence.
There was no further discussion in parliament on Wednesday after Higginson raised the bail issue.
Labor MP Emily Suvaal acknowledged Higginson’s contribution, and said: “I note the matter she discussed is currently before the courts so I will reserve my remarks on that”.
The government’s bail review will examine whether conditions should be strengthened for people charged with serious domestic violence offences, such as requiring alleged perpetrators to wear electronic monitoring bracelets.
NSW police on Thursday said it was inappropriate for them to comment as the matter was before the court.