Judiciary explores bail/bond matters
The right to bail is a fundamental safeguard that ensures accused persons are protected from unlawful detention or arbitrary deprivation of their fundamental rights and freedom.
Article 49 (1) (h) of the Constitution states that any arrested person has the right to be released on bond or bail, on reasonable conditions pending a charge or trial unless there are compelling reasons not to be released.
However, the Judiciary has today defined bond as a binding agreement between an accused person in custody and the court which commits him/her that upon being released from custody, they will continue to attend court without fail.
Similarly, a court bond also guarantees a trustee’s compliance with the decision if the court rules in favour of the other party.
According to the Judiciary, the accused is to comply with other set of conditions until case is finalised and if they fail to attend court they make a payment to the court called the bond sum.
“Payment of the bond sum is not immediate its secured by a surety who deposits a security with the court,” said the judiciary.
The judiciary accepts security documents which include; original motor vehicle Log Book, Sacco share certificate, pay slip and bank deposit slip.
“Security documents are returnable to the surety upon conclusion of the case or at any time when the surety wishes to withdraw from standing for the accused person,” read the tweet.
However, if the accused person fails to turn up in court the surety will be called upon to pay the bond sum to the State failure to which the security/property where the law allows will be forfeited to the State and sold by public auction to realise the bond sum.
The amount of the bail is always at the judge’s discretion.
A judge may deny bail altogether or set it at an enormous level if the defendant is charged with a violent crime or appears likely to be a flight risk.
