The appellant, Bruce Ehrlich, was on trial in the Regional Court, East London, on 14 counts of indecent assault involving minor boys. He had a prior conviction for a similar offence in 1991, rendering the present charges Schedule 6 offences under the Criminal Procedure Act 51 of 1977. After initially being refused bail, he was later granted bail in May 2000 subject to stringent conditions, including a prohibition on contact with persons under 18. He repeatedly applied unsuccessfully to have these conditions relaxed and ultimately breached them. As a result, his bail was cancelled under s 66(1) of the Act. Thereafter, he made several further bail applications, all of which were refused. The present appeal arose from the refusal of bail on 21 February 2002. At that stage, the trial had commenced, numerous witnesses had testified, and the appellant was temporarily without legal representation, partly due to disputes with Legal Aid attorneys whom he had criticised and caused to withdraw.