I received a Summons by Bailiff. What should I do now?

TLDR: Don’t panic, keep the papers, and hire a lawyer.

The document served to you by Bailiff contain your charges, the files numbers as well as important dates.

Specifically, they contain two important dates:

One date is for the fingerprint procedure. This procedure is mandatory in accordance with the Identification of Criminals Act. It can however be moved to accomodate your schedule. You have to be personnally present for the fingerprinting. You may face additional criminal charges if you avoid altogether to undergo the identification process.

Another date is for the first court appearance. This date is mandatory, it cannot be moved to accomodate your schedule. Howevever, a lawyer can represent you in your absence. In other words, if you hired a lawyer to attend the first appearance, then you don’t need to be present physically in court for your first appearance.

The first appearance for a summary charge is the moment where you lawyer enters a non-guilty plea, receives the evidence held against you and post pones the case at a later date to study the evidence. The next court date after your first apperance is not a trial date, but a pro forma date. It is generally not possible to obtain the evidence held against you well before the first scheduled apperance.

Get in touch with the office of Me Arij Riahi for an initial consultation to discuss the events and the options available to your specific situation.