Criminal Lawyers Parramatta

Charged in Parramatta or Western Sydney: which court will hear your case?

If police charge you in New South Wales, you will usually be given a Court Attendance Notice. It sets out the charge and tells you which court to attend and when. Almost every criminal case in NSW starts in the Local Court, including serious charges that finish elsewhere.

For people living around Parramatta, Merrylands, Auburn and the Hills, that court is often Parramatta Courthouse at 12 George Street, Parramatta. The same building houses Parramatta Local Court, Parramatta District Court and, on the ground floor, the Parramatta Drug Court. Charges against children and young people are dealt with separately at Parramatta Children's Court, 2 George Street. Other Western Sydney matters are listed at Blacktown Local Court (1 Kildare Road), Penrith Local and District Court (64-72 Henry Street) or Liverpool Local Court (150 George Street). The court named on your notice is the one that counts.

One local change to watch: the Local Court has announced that Penrith Courthouse will close for refurbishment from 21 December 2026, reopening on 15 March 2027. Until 12 March 2027 Penrith Local Court sittings and registry services move to Parramatta Courthouse, and from 1 February 2027 Penrith District Court sittings move to Katoomba Courthouse.

How criminal law works in New South Wales

NSW divides offences into two groups. Summary offences are less serious charges decided in the Local Court without a jury. Since 28 March 2026 its judicial officers have been called judges rather than magistrates. Indictable offences are more serious charges that can go before a judge and jury in the District Court or Supreme Court.

Many indictable offences listed in the Criminal Procedure Act 1986 (NSW) can stay in the Local Court. A Table 1 offence stays there unless the prosecution or the accused person elects to send it to a higher court. A Table 2 offence stays there unless the prosecution elects. This matters because the Local Court's sentencing power is capped: a maximum of 2 years' imprisonment for a single offence, or 5 years for multiple offences.

For most summary offences, police must start proceedings within 6 months of the alleged offence, unless another Act sets a different period. That limit does not apply to indictable offences dealt with in the Local Court.

Your first court date is called a mention, not the hearing. The court asks whether you plead guilty or not guilty, and you can ask for an adjournment, meaning a postponement, to get legal advice. If you plead not guilty, police must serve a brief of evidence, which is the statements and material they rely on, and a hearing date is set.

Charges that must go to a higher court follow the early appropriate guilty plea process. Police serve a brief, the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions certifies the charges it will proceed with, and your lawyer and the prosecutor hold a case conference. The case is then committed, meaning transferred, to the District Court or Supreme Court for trial or sentence. For these matters the Crimes (Sentencing Procedure) Act 1999 (NSW) fixes the sentence reduction for a guilty plea: 25 per cent if the plea is accepted in the Local Court committal proceedings, 10 per cent if it is generally entered at least 14 days before the first day of trial, and 5 per cent otherwise. These fixed discounts do not apply to Commonwealth offences or to charges finalised in the Local Court.

What happens if police refuse bail in NSW?

Bail is permission to stay in the community while your case is pending. Under the Bail Act 2013 (NSW), police can release you without bail, grant bail with or without conditions, or refuse it. If police refuse, they must bring you before the Local Court as soon as possible, usually the same day or the next day.

For certain serious charges, called show cause offences, bail must be refused unless you show why your detention is not justified. For every charge the court then applies the unacceptable risk test: whether there is an unacceptable risk that you will fail to appear, commit a serious offence, endanger someone's safety or interfere with witnesses, and whether bail conditions could manage that risk.

On weekends, adult fresh custody matters across NSW, such as police bail refusals, are heard by the Local Court's Bail Division by audio visual link. If the Local Court refuses bail, you generally cannot apply there again unless you had no lawyer the first time, there is important new information or your circumstances have changed, but you can apply to the Supreme Court of New South Wales.

Drink driving and drug driving charges in NSW

Under the Road Transport Act 2013 (NSW), drink driving is graded by blood alcohol concentration: low range is 0.05 to 0.079, mid range is 0.08 to 0.149 and high range is 0.15 or above. Learner and provisional drivers must stay at zero, and special category drivers under 0.02.

For a first low range offence, police can suspend your licence immediately and issue a $722 penalty notice with a 3 month suspension. If the matter goes to court, the maximum fine is $2,200 and the automatic disqualification is 6 months, which the court can reduce to no less than 3 months. A first mid range offence carries up to a $2,200 fine, up to 9 months' imprisonment, a minimum 6 month disqualification (12 months automatic) and an alcohol interlock order. A first high range offence carries up to a $3,300 fine, up to 18 months' imprisonment, a minimum 12 month disqualification (3 years automatic) and an interlock order.

Driving with a prescribed illicit drug, such as cannabis or methamphetamine, present in your oral fluid, blood or urine is a separate offence. A first offence can be dealt with by a $722 penalty notice and a 3 month suspension, or at court with a fine of up to $2,200 and a 6 month automatic disqualification with a 3 month minimum.

Diversion programs and outcomes without a conviction

MERIT (Magistrates Early Referral Into Treatment) is a voluntary 12 week program for adults with an alcohol or other drug problem who are facing Local Court charges other than sexual offences. Your case is adjourned while you take part in treatment, and you do not have to plead guilty to be eligible.

The Drug Court of NSW sits at Parramatta Courthouse. It is for adults who are dependent on prohibited drugs, have pleaded or will plead guilty, are highly likely to be sentenced to full-time imprisonment and live in a listed council area, which includes the City of Parramatta, Cumberland, Blacktown, Penrith, Liverpool, Fairfield and the Hills Shire. Charges involving violence or sexual assault are excluded.

Under section 14 of the Mental Health and Cognitive Impairment Forensic Provisions Act 2020 (NSW), a Local Court judge can dismiss a charge and discharge a person who has a mental health or cognitive impairment, often on condition that they follow a treatment plan. It applies only to charges being finalised in the Local Court, not to committal proceedings.

Finally, under section 10 of the Crimes (Sentencing Procedure) Act 1999 (NSW), a court that finds an offence proved can dismiss it, or make a conditional release order of up to 2 years, without recording a conviction. The court looks at your character, age, health, how trivial the offence was and any extenuating circumstances.

How NSW differs from other states

NSW vocabulary can confuse people who have dealt with courts interstate. The lowest court is the Local Court, not a magistrates court as in Victoria and Queensland, and its judicial officers are now called judges. Charges begin with a Court Attendance Notice. The non-conviction outcome is known as a section 10, the bail rules come from the Bail Act 2013 (NSW) with its show cause and unacceptable risk tests, and drink driving is described as low, mid or high range. Commonwealth charges, such as Centrelink fraud, are still heard in NSW courts but are sentenced under the Crimes Act 1914 (Cth).