NSW police settle trespass case after visiting Indigenous children’s home 150 times in 20 months

Two Indigenous mothers have settled a trespass case against New South Wales police, after officers turned up at one of their homes 150 times in 20 months to conduct bail checks on her sons.

The case, which was launched against NSW police in April 2024, was settled on confidential terms three weeks before it was to go to trial in the supreme court.

One of the complainants, a single mum who uses the pseudonym Megan for privacy, has two sons, who were on bail from the ages of 11 and 13 after being found as passengers in a stolen car.

Police attended her home in regional NSW more than 150 times over 20 months, with many of the visits taking place between midnight and 4am.

NSW legislation allows courts to authorise police to attend a private residence to check that someone is complying with their bail conditions.

But the Justice and Equity Centre, representing Megan in court, argued that many of the bail checks were done without court authorisation, which amounted to trespass.

Megan said the visits often involved police banging on doors, shining torches through the windows and letting themselves in through the back gate in the middle of the night.

She said the visits were scary and stressful for her family and resulted in her kids missing school because of exhaustion.

‘‘My eldest is driving around with his head held high now, knowing police can’t just randomly pull him over,’’ Megan said.

‘‘But I know he’s still shaking in fear about what they could do.

‘‘They’ve already done the damage, and it will take a lot for my boys to start trusting police again.”

The other complainant, a single mum of three who uses the pseudonym Joanne, said police visited her western Sydney home to do bail checks on her son more than 90 times in 18 months.

She said in the space of a few hours, police conducted three such checks.

“The checks often happened on school nights, which meant my youngest daughter was too tired to go to school in the morning,” she said.

NSW police said the officers were acting lawfully when they conducted the bail compliance checks.

A police spokesperson said such checks were an important tool for keeping the public safe and managing risks associated with letting people out of jail during an ongoing court process.

But a report from the state’s Law Enforcement Conduct Commission, released in 2025, found police were stretching their authority and powers by relying on a weak legal principle to conduct bail compliance checks without court authorisation.

The mothers’ solicitor, Kate Sinclair, said it was immensely brave for her clients to bring the case against the force.

‘‘They did it for their families and their communities and we respect their courage,’’ she said.

Megan and her sons have separately taken NSW police to the federal court for racial discrimination, arguing that the boys were targeted because they are Aboriginal.