Assault defendant denies being a person

QUEENSTOWN

A WANAKA artist who denies being a person is expected to defend a charge of assault at a judgealone trial in April.

Jane Louise Kellahan (49) was forced to appear in the Queenstown District Court on Tuesday, a day after her voluntary appearance on Monday.

At her first appearance, Judge Russell Walker issued a warrant for her arrest — despite her being in the courtroom — after a bizarre exchange between the two.

On Tuesday, for the second day in a row, Kellahan refused to go to the dock when called, telling Judge Walker: ‘‘That sounds like my name, Your Honour, but I want to see it in writing.’’

Judge Walker told her that despite her denials of being the person named on the charge sheet, ‘‘it’s clear that that’s you’’.

Based on a document before the court, she was claiming to have acted either in selfdefence or defence of another person, he said.

Kellahan, who is charged with assault in Wanaka on January 3, then repeated she would not stand in the dock. ‘‘I’m a vessel.

‘‘I’m a living being on the land.’’ Judge Walker: ‘‘You are a living being, which means you are a person.’’

He entered a plea of not guilty, telling her the matter would go to a hearing at which the complainant would give evidence ‘‘and you can have your say as well’’.

They would have to agree to disagree about whether she was a person.

Kellahan then asked him to call her ‘Jane Louise’.

‘‘I’m not a dead, legal fiction.’’ Judge Walker remanded her on bail until the trial on April 28.