Cleveland Magistrates Court: what to expect

Why your matter ended up at Cleveland

Cleveland covers Redland City in its entirety. Schedule 1 of the Justices Regulation 2014 (Qld) puts it plainly: the area of the Cleveland Magistrates Courts District is the former Redland Shire, and the place for holding Magistrates Courts in the district is Cleveland. There is no second courthouse in the Redlands.

So charges laid at Cleveland, Capalaba, Victoria Point, Redland Bay, Thornlands, Wellington Point, Birkdale, Alexandra Hills, Ormiston, Mount Cotton and the Southern Moreton Bay Islands are all listed here, as are matters from North Stradbroke Island.

One practical consequence of an island catchment: if you are travelling from Russell, Macleay, Lamb or Karragarra Island, or from Minjerribah, your court date is governed by a ferry timetable. Build that into your morning, and tell your lawyer about it early, because a magistrate is far more accommodating about a ferry that has been factored in beforehand than one offered as an excuse at 9:30am.

Getting there and parking

The courthouse is at 5 Middle Street in the Cleveland centre. Cleveland station is the terminus of the Cleveland rail line, and TransLink also lists a bus stop on Middle Street itself, served by routes including the 250, 271, 274 and 275.

Parking is the one thing Redland City Council does publish usefully. In the central Cleveland business district, on street parking runs from 15 minutes to three hours on Middle, Bloomfield and Doig Streets and parts of Queen Street. Council also states there is 12 hour parking within a couple of blocks, in Russell, Queen, Homer or Wynyard Streets. Outside the CBD, parking time is unlimited unless a sign says otherwise.

That matters more here than at most courts. A three hour bay directly outside sounds generous until the list runs long, and a mention that was supposed to take five minutes has you back at the car at 12:30pm. If you can walk two blocks, park in the 12 hour zone and stop watching the clock.

Do not go to the Old Cleveland Court House on Paxton Street. It is a heritage building that has not been a court for a long time and is now a restaurant. People do turn up there.

Reading the list at Cleveland

The daily law list is published on the Queensland Courts website and updated at 6:45am and again at 8:45am each day.

Matters are listed from 8:30am and 9:00am. Cleveland is a single courtroom operation on an ordinary day, which cuts both ways: you will not be in the wrong room, but everything queues through the one magistrate, so the list can run long.

The Childrens Court sits here, and Cleveland is one of only fifteen Murri Court locations in Queensland. The Murri Court is not a separate or easier jurisdiction, it is the Magistrates Court sitting with Elders and Respected Persons present, available to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander defendants who are eligible and who agree to take part. If you think it may apply to you, raise it with the duty lawyer or your own lawyer early, not on the morning of a sentence.

What actually happens at a mention

A first mention is administrative. The magistrate finds out what the charge is, whether you have a lawyer, whether you have the police material, and what you intend to do about it. It is short.

You do not have to enter a plea. Asking for time to get legal advice is routine and is granted the first time in almost every case. The QP9, which is the police summary of what they say happened, is the document you actually need before deciding anything, and you are entitled to ask the prosecutor for it.

• Arrive by 8:15am. Some matters are listed at 8:30am.
• Bring the notice to appear and anything else the police or court have sent you.
• Ask for your QP9 before court starts, or have the duty lawyer obtain it.
• Park somewhere you are not going to have to move from. The list can outlast a three hour bay.
• Do not plead on the day just to get it over with. It is the hardest thing to undo.

Clothes, phones and conduct

Neat and covered. No singlets, thongs, hats or sunglasses inside. Cover offensive slogans.

Phones off or silent. No recording of anything, anywhere in the building, and no photographs of the list or the courtroom. Do not post about your matter online while it is running. Recording proceedings without permission is an offence.

Address the magistrate as Your Honour, stand when you speak, and bow your head slightly entering and leaving the courtroom.

The duty lawyer at Cleveland

Legal Aid Queensland runs a free duty lawyer service at Cleveland covering both the adult court and the Childrens Court, and publishes a quarterly roster of the private firms and Legal Aid solicitors who staff it.

Ask at the counter as soon as you arrive. The service is first in, first seen, and on a busy list you may get a short conversation rather than a considered one. Childrens Court matters are handled by Youth Legal Aid on 1800 527 527. General legal information is on 1300 65 11 88.

A duty lawyer can deal with an adjournment, a bail application, a simple plea and a breach. They will not have read your brief, because they will not have had it, and they do not run trials or committals. On anything carrying a conviction, a licence or a real risk of prison, that is not the same as being represented.

If you are late or cannot get there

Ring the registry on (07) 3884 3900 and say so. A matter can be stood down to later in the morning. Say nothing and you risk a warrant, and a failure to appear becomes its own problem on top of the charge you came for.

If you are coming from the bay islands and the ferry has let you down, that is precisely the kind of thing to tell the registry rather than the magistrate an hour later.

If you have a court date at Cleveland and have not had advice, the first fifteen minutes by phone with us cost nothing. Call 07 5522 5777.