Man facing siege charges fires defence lawyer
A CAIRNS man has insulted and fired his duty lawyer within minutes of his case being mentioned in court.
“Your honour I’d like to sack this c*** please, I don’t want him representing me,” Kelvin John Schmidt said.
After a laugh, defence lawyer Tom Eckersley moved on to the next matter while Mr Schmidt remained in the dock with his arms folded.
The 49-year-old is charged with deprivation of liberty, assault occasioning bodily harm while armed, obstructing police, common assault, contravention of a protection notice and breaching a bail condition.
It is alleged he was armed with a knife as he held a woman against her will during a three-hour siege at a White Rock home on Wednesday afternoon.
The emergency prompted a 100m exclusion zone from the property after Mr Schmidt allegedly refused to allow police entry to the home before barricading himself and a woman in a bedroom of the Kimba Close home.
He eventually surrendered some hours later after negotiations with specialist police.
The woman had allegedly sustained facial injuries in the incident.
Mr Schmidt appeared in the Cairns Magistrates Court yesterday morning. After sacking Mr Eckersley, Mr Schmidt told the court he wanted to represent himself. He then said he didn’t want to say anything until he spoke with a mental health officer.
No bail application was made and matters were adjourned to a date to be set.