Beenleigh Magistrates Court: what to expect

Why your matter ended up at Beenleigh

Beenleigh covers a large and fast growing catchment that sits across the Logan and northern Gold Coast corridor. If police charged you at Beenleigh, Eagleby, Waterford, Loganholme, Springwood, Browns Plains, Yarrabilba, Jimboomba, Ormeau or Pimpama, this is likely your court.

People from the northern Gold Coast are regularly surprised by this, because they assume a Gold Coast address means Southport. It does not. The court is determined by where the charge was laid, and it is printed on your notice to appear or bail undertaking.

If you are not sure, ring the registry on (07) 3081 2100 and ask them to confirm the court and the date before you drive anywhere.

Getting there and parking

The courthouse is on the corner of Kent and James Streets in the centre of Beenleigh.

• Train. Beenleigh station is on the Beenleigh line and is a short walk from the courthouse. From Brisbane this is the simplest way to get here and it removes the parking problem entirely.
• Driving. There is no public car park at the courthouse. Street parking and nearby shopping centre parking exist, and both fill early on a sitting day. Time limits are enforced, so do not leave a car on a short meter and assume you will be out in an hour.
• From the Gold Coast. Beenleigh is straight up the M1 from Coomera and Ormeau, but the northbound run between 7:00am and 9:00am is unreliable. Leave earlier than the map says.

There is security screening at the entrance. Bags go through a scanner and anything that could be treated as a weapon should be left at home.

Reading the list at Beenleigh

Daily law lists are on display in the courthouse and published online. Magistrates lists are updated at 6:45am and again at 8:45am, so check on the morning rather than relying on what you saw the day before.

Beenleigh runs Magistrates matters and, in sitting periods, District Court criminal matters in the same building. The District Court list is headed separately and has its own courtroom and start time. If you have been committed for sentence or trial you are on that list, not the mentions list.

Find your surname, note the courtroom and the time, and go and sit in that room. Nobody will find you in the foyer.

What a mention involves

A mention is a brief listing where the court checks the state of your matter. No evidence is called and nothing is decided unless you ask for it to be.

When your name is read out, stand and give your name. The magistrate will usually ask whether you are represented, whether you have the police brief, and how you intend to plead. If you have not had advice, ask for an adjournment to get some. That is standard at a first mention and it is not held against you.

The exchange takes a couple of minutes. Getting to it takes considerably longer. Beenleigh lists are busy, so plan for the morning and do not schedule work or child pick ups around an optimistic estimate.

The single worst thing you can do at a first mention is plead guilty to make it go away. Read the QP9 first. Get advice. A plea entered in a panic is very hard to withdraw.

Clothes, phones and courtroom conduct

Dress neatly. Queensland Courts says expressly that you do not need a suit, so a clean shirt and long pants or a modest dress is fine. Leave the hat, sunglasses, singlet and thongs.

Turn your phone off before you enter the courtroom. Silent is not enough. You cannot record, photograph or broadcast proceedings. Do not eat, drink or chew gum in the room, and do not vape or smoke anywhere in the courthouse.

Bow your head to the coat of arms behind the bench when you enter and leave, stand when the magistrate does, and say "Your Honour".

The court has a remote witness room and videoconferencing facilities. If you are a witness with safety concerns, raise that with the prosecutor or your lawyer well before the hearing date, not on the morning.

The duty lawyer at Beenleigh

Legal Aid Queensland runs a free duty lawyer service at Beenleigh Magistrates Court. Ask at the counter as soon as you arrive, because the sign up list moves fast and a duty lawyer who sees you at 9:20am has very little time to do anything useful with your matter.

The service will help with an adjournment, a bail application or variation, a guilty plea in a straightforward matter, a breach of bail or probation, obtaining your QP9 and speaking to the prosecutor.

It will not run a committal or a trial, will not take a complex sentence, will not usually take a first or second drink or drug driving charge unless imprisonment is realistically on the table, and will not act for you beyond that day. Legal Aid Queensland is on 1300 65 11 88.

Late, absent, or adjourned

Late is recoverable. Absent is not, or at least it is much harder. If you are running behind, call (07) 3081 2100, then get to the courtroom and tell the bailiff or clerk you are there. Matters are often stood down and called again later in the morning.

If you simply do not appear, the court can deal with a simple offence in your absence under the Justices Act 1886 (Qld), or issue a warrant for your arrest. On bail, non appearance is an offence in its own right under section 33 of the Bail Act 1980 (Qld), and it will be raised against you the next time you ask for bail.

An adjournment moves the matter to a new date. It is the ordinary outcome of a first mention, not a setback. Write the new date down in the courtroom, because you will not remember it in the car park. If you are on bail, your bail is normally enlarged to that date on the same conditions.

Where a charge is too serious to be finalised by a magistrate, it is committed to the District Court, which sits at Beenleigh as well as at Brisbane and Southport.