A court "mention" is a term that is used every single day in the courts in Queensland but what does it actually mean?
What does a “mention” mean?
A the meaning of a mention is actually quite simple, it is where the magistrate or judge will “mention” a matter in the court. Its purpose is really an opportunity for the judge to find out what’s happening so they can keep the matter progressing through the court system and for any of the parties to raise any issues.
A mention is different to a hearing or a sentence date as it is not always expected that anything of substance would happen at a mention.
First mention
There will always be a first mention of a matter after someone has been arrested. They may be given bail to a first mention date or given a notice to appear in court for a first mention date.
At the first mention date generally the court would be looking for a person to either adjourn the matter to another mention date or plea guilty to a matter or plead not guilty and have the matter set down for a trial.
As it is just a mention if something more complex like a bail application is to occur the court may decide to adjourn that to another date as generally mention won’t do applications or sentences that will take longer than 10-15 minutes.
The courts will almost always grant an adjournment on the first mention court date especially if it is to get legal advice.
At a first mention the police prosecutor should provide the defendant with a copy of their QP9 if they haven’t already. The QP9 is a summary of the facts the police say establish that the defendant is guilty of the offence
You can learn more about QP9’s by reading our article on what is a QP9?
Further court mentions
Complex matters often have a number of mentions throughout the course of the matter. Negotiations with a prosecutor can take time and so a few mentions in court may be required while the negotiations continue.
In our experience if a person has not obtained legal representation then each further adjournment request at a mention will be harder and after 2-3 mentions the court might require someone to enter a plea of guilty or not guilty.
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