My son was arrested for harassment yesterday. Him and his girlfriend…

Hello:

Criminal harassment is defined as the following behaviour:

(a) repeatedly following from place to place the other person or anyone known to them;

(b) repeatedly communicating with, either directly or indirectly, the other person or anyone known to them;

(c) besetting or watching the dwelling-house, or place where the other person, or anyone known to them, resides, works, carries on business or happens to be; or

(d) engaging in threatening conduct directed at the other person or any member of their family.


It sounds here like only (a) or (d) could possibly apply to your son's situation.

So the police would need to have some proof of that type of conduct, regarding either the mother or the girlfriend as the victim. They would also need evidence that the behaviour caused the victim to have some reasonable fear for their safety or the safety of someone they know. So if the mother had some basis to fear that he would harm
her, or her daughter, based on the text messages that he sent to her, then that could lead the police to charge.

To lay the charge, the police are supposed to have a reasonable basis to believe that the offence occurred. But to actually get a conviction, the prosecution has a much higher test, and must prove beyond a reasonable doubt that the charges occurred.

For bail, the court will look at the strength of the case of the crown in considering release. Your son can certainly ask to adjourn the bail hearing a day or two, so that the statement of the girlfriend, which may be helpful to his case, is in hand and can be presented to the judge deciding on bail.

The bail judge will also consider issues of whether bail will protect the public or allow potential re offending, and must deny bail if he or she feels that there are no conditions (such as having a surety, or posting of cash bail, or non contact conditions, or being confined to his house with an electronic monitor, for example) will be sufficient and that keeping him in custody is the one and only way to ensure safety. So if he successfully completed his probation and has no record of breaches of release conditions or probation, then the prosecution would likely have a very difficult time in proving that there are no release conditions here that will work. It would be a different case if he had a history of not following such conditions.

The court will also deny bail if there is a risk that a person will not attend court, which also is usually based on prior failures to attend court, which should not be a concern here.