A MAGISTRATE has warned a man he faces arrest for contempt of court after swearing and disrupting proceedings in a Tamworth court.
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Daniel Robert McDonald appeared in Tamworth Local Court on Monday morning to answer two charges of driving under the influence of a drug, but when his case was called, his father stepped in.
“He’s not entering,” his father, who was only identified as Mr McDonald Snr, bellowed from the door of the court.
Cyril Baker, a well-known freedom-rights campaigner, who maintains the court doesn’t have jurisdiction without a jury, stood side-by-side with the two men and also yelled they were not entering because the court had no authority.
Magistrate Roger Prowse, who only returned to Tamworth on Monday to take up the position as the full-time presiding magistrate, told Daniel McDonald to go to the microphone if he was unrepresented.
When the continual refusals were made, Mr Prowse ordered an arrest warrant be issued, because Daniel McDonald was “not before the court”.
“See you later, d***head,” Mr McDonald Snr yelled before walking out of the court.
Several sheriffs, who were in court for the proceedings, stepped in, and Daniel McDonald voluntarily walked into court and told his father to settle down.
Mr Prowse warned Mr McDonald Snr he would have him charged with contempt of court if he continued to swear.
“Do not ever come into this court and use that language again,” he told Mr McDonald Snr, who then apologised.
Daniel McDonald, 25, later pleaded guilty to one count of driving under the influence of a drug, before a back-up charge was withdrawn and dismissed.
He said he was “manipulated into driving”, but was “discriminated against by the officer”.
“Your Honour, depending on the sentence that you give to me, it may prove to be detrimental and, furthermore, fracture society,” he told the court.
According to facts tendered to the court, McDonald was intercepted by police after braking harshly when he spotted officers at 12.30pm on June 6 last year on Bridge St, Tamworth.
“During this process, police could smell a strong odour of cannabis coming from the vehicle and observed the accused’s eyes to be quite bloodshot,” facts read after officers tried to talk to him.
“He had trouble forming intelligible sentences and could not follow a logical sequence in conversation without finding the situation amusing.”
An expert certificate presented to the court said samples showed McDonald was under the influence of cannabis “to the extent that his ability to drive was impaired”.
McDonald will undergo the traffic offenders program ahead of sentencing in April.