A "living woman" is behind bars after a bizarre stand-off with a magistrate over her name, whether she is a person, and her refusal to apply for bail.
Elvira Shagabuddinova, 39, refused to approach the bar table and stood at the back of the ACT Magistrates Court on Friday afternoon, charged with driving while suspended, two counts of assaulting a front-line community service provider, and three counts of resisting a territory public official.
She is also charged with three counts of damaging property worth less than $5000, which the court heard related to sunglasses, reading glasses and a "shoulder light".
The 39-year-old has not entered pleas to any of the charges, which all relate to offences allegedly committed on Thursday.
Shagabuddinova was previously fined for refusing to use the Check In CBR app when it was mandatory, trespassing at the St Vincent de Paul Society store in Greenway and refusing to provide her name to police.
The 39-year-old was supposed to appear via audio-visual link from a remote room within the court building on Friday morning, but she requested to appear in person in the courtroom.
The matter was adjourned until the afternoon, when she made a beeline for the back of the courtroom upon being brought up from the cells.
"What are you doing?" an ACT Corrective Services officer could be heard asking Shagabuddinova as she pushed past him to take up a position deep in courtroom instead of at the bar table.
Magistrate James Lawton addressed the woman by her name and asked her to move forward so he could hear her, but Shagabuddinova, who declined Legal Aid assistance and represented herself, refused to co-operate.
"I'm not her. I'm not person at all [sic]. I am living woman," Shagabuddinova said.
Mr Lawton asked Shagabuddinova if she was going to apply for bail, but she did not answer.
Prosecutor Hannah Lee said she would not be opposing bail if it was applied for.
Shagabuddinova carried on saying "I don't trust this court" before Mr Lawton ordered she be taken back to the cells to appear by audio-visual link once he had finished dealing with other cases.
In the remote room, Shagabuddinova refused to sit in the chair and again asked Mr Lawton who he was speaking to, saying "are you talking to living woman or fantasy?"
The magistrate replied: "I'm talking to you, the person who is talking to me."
"I don't care what your name is," Mr Lawton told Shagabuddinova.
"I want you to answer my question. Do you apply for bail or not?"
Shagabuddinova eventually told the court she would not apply for bail, despite it being unopposed.
Mr Lawton accordingly remanded her in custody until her next court date on July 22.
