A Perth man who was denied bail by a magistrate last month has been hauled back before the same judiciary after she found him in contempt of court following a “tirade of abuse” he launched at her.
Axel Farran Winmar, 36, appeared in Perth Magistrates Court on March 23 after he was arrested for a long list of alleged offences including stealing a motor vehicle, assault, aggravated home burglary, breaching a post-sentence supervision order and breach of bail.
He made an appearance in the matter via video link from Hakea Prison where he applied for bail, but Magistrate Janelle Scutt denied the request.
What happened next landed him with another charge after he started swearing.
During a trial on Thursday, Scutt recounted the conversation after a lawyer for Winmar tried to argue he did not intend to insult the court with his words.
“He was warned his language would not be tolerated,” Scutt said.
“He responded with, ‘yes, f— you b—-‘, after he was told that saying ‘c—sucker’ would not be tolerated.
“He was told by myself I will not put up with that … he was told he would be held in contempt of court.
“He responded with, ‘f— you, c—sucker, f— you, suck my d— c—sucker’.”
The audio to the video link was then muted by a judicial support officer before Winmar put up his middle finger to the camera.
Two days later Winmar apologised, claiming he was “stressed out”.
“I thought I was going to get out, and I just vented,” he said.
“I shouldn’t have sworn at you.”
Winmar’s Aboriginal Legal Service lawyer, Paul Tobin, told the court his client did not intend to deliberately insult the magistrate, claiming he was living in “sub-human” conditions at Hakea Prison, and was distressed at not being able to attend the funeral of a loved one.
Scutt disagreed and found Winmar guilty of wilfully insulting a magistrate.
She said his outburst was disruptive and caused a “serious and immediate threat to the authority of the court”.
He will be sentenced over the matter on June 16.
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