Dispute over the identity of a person facing serious drug charges reached boiling point in court when a man repeatedly claimed he was not technically the person charged.
When the case of Peter Charles Ninnes, as it's spelled on court documents, was called in Newcastle Local Court on August 30, a man approached the bar table and said he was "here on behalf of the matter".
Ninnes is facing a string of drug-related charges - including two counts of supplying prohibited drugs, two counts of possessing prohibited drugs, participating in a criminal group, and intending to conceal a crime - after he and three others were arrested as part of a drug supply sting across the Hunter and Central Coast. He is yet to enter a plea.
In each of the three times the man has appeared in court, he has maintained Ninnes to be a "legal fiction".
The man previously claimed a "serious clerical" error had been made - the last name was spelled incorrectly. A magistrate told the man on July 28 that the court documents could be amended, but he maintained his initial position.
Magistrate Caleb Franklin repeatedly asked: "Are you Mr Ninnes?" to which the man responded that he was a "living man of God" and Ninnes was merely fictional.
The magistrate warned that, in the absence of a legal practitioner as representative for Ninnes or an appearance by the man himself, Ninnes would be marked absent from court and a warrant for arrest shortly issued.
The case was adjourned before the man reappeared at about 3:30pm, armed with pages of handwritten notes on similar interstate cases, including one from 1976.
Mr Franklin again asked if Ninnes was present.
"I have a right to self identify," the man told the court, arguing for what the magistrate deemed the "strawman theory", which asserts a person has two separate identities - one of flesh and blood, and one legal. "My name is Peter Charles. I am of the family 'Ninnes'."
The man was told to "google" his arguments and was repeatedly instructed that ideas like his had rarely passed higher courts.
"The Queensland court has [called these arguments] gobbledygook," Mr Franklin said. "If you had done your research, you would know this.
"[Your argument] does not deserve the court's attention," he said, citing a Queensland District Court case from 2021.
The man standing in place of Ninnes objected to Ninnes being marked absent on court papers and requested an adjournment for legal advice.
But Mr Franklin said it was not possible for the man to object or seek help unless he identified as the accused.
An officer called for Ninnes outside the courtroom three times while the man was before court, in what the magistrate described as "abundant action".
The case will return to court on September 6.
The magistrate said a warrant for arrest would be issued if a person who identifies as Ninnes does not appear before court on this date.
The State Crime Command's Drug and Firearms Squad, with the NSW Crime Commission, established Strike Force Great in April last year to investigate the supply of methamphetamine in the area, which led to Ninnes being charged.
Investigators executed search warrants in Belmont North, Nords Wharf and Wadalba, allegedly locating and seizing more than two kilograms of ice - with an estimated street value of more than $2 million - as well as $220,000 in cash, a gel blaster firearm, electronic devices and other items.
They were assisted by officers attached to Raptor Squad, the Hunter Region Enforcement Squad and the Northern Region Operation Support Group throughout the operation.
