After court
At the end of your case, you will either be found guilty or not guilty.
If you are guilty, the Court will decide whether to convict you and give you a punishment. The Court may order that you pay a fine.
If you are not happy about the decision of the Court, you may be able to appeal to the District Court.
If you are found not guilty, your fine is cancelled, and your case is finished.
This section covers:
Paying the court fine
If you have been fined by the Court, you will have 28 days to pay the fine. You will be sent a notice of penalty which tells you the amount you have to pay.
If you can't pay the fine within 28 days, you can apply:
- to have your fine remitted (you don’t have to pay it)
- to pay by instalments
- for an extension of up to three months
- for a Work and Development Order
- to appeal to the District Court.
For more information, see
Paying the court fine.
Appealing the decision
If you are found guilty and sentenced by the Court, you may be able to appeal to the District Court within 28 days, or three months with leave (permission) of the Court.
You can appeal:
- your conviction, if you believe you’re not guilty
- your sentence, if you believe it is too harsh
- the Court’s decision to dismiss your Annulment Application.
If you go to the District Court, you usually can’t get a worse penalty. If the Judge is thinking about giving you a harsher penalty than what you received in the Local Court, they must warn you and give you a chance to withdraw your appeal. This is called a Parker warning. If you withdraw your appeal, the Local Court decision will apply.
Before filing an appeal, you should get legal advice.
For more information, see
Appealing the decision.
Applying for an annulment
If you were found guilty when you were not at court, you can apply to have the decision annulled (cancelled) within two years.
You can’t apply to have a decision annulled if you filed a Written Notice of Pleading or if you were in court when you were convicted and sentenced.
Your application for annulment will be heard by the same court that convicted and sentenced you.
The Court may annul the decision if:
- you did not receive your Court Attendance Notice (CAN)
- you have a good reason for not attending court
- it is in the interests of justice to annul the decision.
If the Court grants your annulment application, the previous decision will be cancelled. You will then be asked to enter a plea. If you are pleading guilty, the Court may want to sentence you straight away. You can ask the Court for an adjournment if you need more time.
Before you apply for an annulment, you should get legal advice.
For more information, see Applying for an annulment.
Your driving or criminal record
If you have been found guilty and convicted of an offence, there will be a record of the conviction. Depending on the type of offence, it may be recorded on your driving record or your criminal record.
For more information, see
Driving and criminal records.