A man who admitted to abducting a baby in Adelaide's north-east but then wanted to change his plea has been told "an administrative error" meant the guilty pleas were no longer recorded on the court system.
Ilias Sammy Latsis pleaded guilty earlier this year to multiple offences including serious criminal trespass, vehicle theft, deception and abduction.
The 37-year-old allegedly stole a Honda Jazz that had a four-month-old boy inside from outside a Klemzig deli in May.
The incident sparked an urgent and widespread manhunt, and the baby boy was reunited with his mother two hours later when the car was found abandoned in Enfield.
Mr Latsis has been seeking to withdraw his guilty plea to the abduction charge, with the court previously hearing he was "strung out" on drugs when he admitted to the offence.
An Adelaide Magistrates Court hearing on Thursday was meant to decide whether that could occur.
Prosecutor Phoebe Foster-Richardson told the court that there was a "potential issue" as "the court system reflects that there's no pleas".
"It was simply an administrative error that the pleas were not transferred to the new information," she told the court.
"Everyone in the courtroom at that time and indeed today was of the understanding that the pleas still stood.
"They were entered on 30th May and they are subject to this application.
"But it was by nature of the new system [that the pleas were not recorded]."
But Magistrate Roderick Jensen said the prosecution had withdrawn the file which the guilty pleas had been recorded on last month and filed a new file which contained additional matters.
"Fundamentally we have a file before the court where no pleas have been entered and that comes about because the police laid fresh information," he said.
"So in that situation doesn't the defendant get the benefit of there being fresh information before the court where he hasn't entered a plea?
"The question then becomes does the defendant remain bound by his pleas of guilty.
"The application [to alter his pleas] will become redundant if indeed the new file had no pleas on it and the old pleas didn't transfer across."
Mr Latsis's lawyer, Heidi Salvemini, said she was not familiar enough with the new rules to provide any advice.
Mr Latsis has been remanded in custody, with the matter expected to return to court later this month.
The court has previously heard Mr Latsis had a long criminal history mostly due to his methamphetamine addiction.
