HOMELESS MAN STAYS SILENT IN HOUR-LONG COURT SITTING

A HOMELESS man was silent yesterday as he faced court to be extradited to New South Wales over the death of his baby girl.

He did not speak a word or utter a sound during the almost hour he spent in the Southport Magistrates Court yesterday.

Two police officers led the tall, thin man, wearing a white hospital smock with a black grid pattern, into court two.

He walked timidly, looking at the watchhouse officers for directions of where to go in the dock.

He looked older than his 48 years with deep lines marring his face. His dark beard was uneven and unkempt and mottled with grey, and his tight curly hair appeared unwashed.

He stood straight with his hands clasped behind his back until sitting down on prompting from his lawyer.

While Magistrate John Costanzo read extradition documents provided by police, the man’s eyes darted around the courtroom unable to settle on one point.

His mouth would open and close but no sounds came out.

He kept his head up and back straight throughout the appearance.

The man was in court for a little less than an hour, his appearance broken into two parts while lawyers prepared to sentence the man for a public nuisance offence.

He pleaded guilty through his lawyer Sunil Dutt, of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Legal Service.

The man showed no visible reaction when it was announced he would be extradited or when his sentence was handed down.

He was returned to the cells so he could be handed over to the two Tweed Heads detectives waiting to transfer him to NSW.