January 09, 2013

Canadian visitor finds himself in custody

By David Clarkson

A homeless Canadian man?s view that he didn?t need a lawyer left him startled to find himself remanded in custody for eight days and possibly facing deportation.

David William Dakota Denton, an unemployed 31-year-old from Vancouver, decided that he didn?t want to speak to a duty solicitor and would speak for himself at his Christchurch District Court appearance yesterday.

Judge Noel Walsh asked him: ?Have you seen a lawyer??

?Don?t need one,? Denton replied from the dock.

That was when police prosecutor Chris Hunt told the court Denton had no fixed abode and had said at the time of his arrest that he had no intention of turning up at the Nga Hau e Wha marae yesterday to face another charge.

He was arrested overnight on Monday on two charges of being found unlawfully in a building in Avonside, and at the Linwood Bowling Club. The previous charge was similar.

The police were opposing his release on bail.

Mr Hunt said Denton held little regard for court orders or the laws of New Zealand. Immigration had been contacted and there could now be steps under way to have him held under a 28-day warrant of commitment before being deported.

Denton, who has been in New Zealand since November 13, said he did not want to enter a plea.

He told Judge Walsh: ?Quite simply, I?m asking for pardon.?

Judge Walsh asked him if he had a return air ticket, and Denton replied: ?I have money. Tickets come and tickets go...?

When the judge began to give his decision which would keep him in custody, Denton interrupted to say: ?All right, I?ll plead not guilty. You and your New Zealand police are a bunch of liars, quite simply.?

He then looked surprised to find that he was being ushered back into the cells for a remand in custody to January 16.

Immigration may have made its inquiries and decided his fate by then.