WAGGA DISTRICT COURT
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A JUDGE has refused to sentence a man accused of attempting to hold up the Ashmont Inn bottle shop twice in less than two weeks.
Judge Stephen Norrish QC in Wagga District Court on Tuesday morning expressed serious doubts about Semu Tumama's fitness to plea to the alleged offences based on Tumama's state of mental health.
"I can't sentence you in good conscience today," Judge Norrish told Tumama.
Judge Norrish said he could not believe Tumama had been allowed to plead guilty in Wagga Local Court on June 18 to charges of armed robbery and using a weapon with intent to commit an indictable offence after his Legal Aid Commission solicitor withdrew from the case because in his opinion Tumama was delusional.
"Why was he allowed to plead guilty, why did the matter go ahead under these circumstances?" Judge Norrish asked.
"I can't believe a court could take a plea when a solicitor says the man is so delusional he can't take instructions."
Tumama ended up representing himself in court that day and was committed for sentence to the current sittings of Wagga District Court.
Judge Norrish read medical reports about Tumama handed up by Crown solicitor, John Hall.
A report prepared by a consultant psychiatrist while Tumama was on remand in Sydney's Metropolitan Remand and Reception Centre said Tumama had schizophrenia, a history of mental illness that goes back to 2005 and an IQ in the mentally retarded range.
Judge Norrish spoke with Tumama for about 15 minutes after the accused man was brought to the dock and said he was representing himself in court.
The judge asked Tumama a number of questions about his background and the things he had said since his arrest, including wanting to be deported to England.
Tumama - at times hard to understand - told Judge Norrish he did not want to be deported, but just wanted to know his address in England.
West Samoa born Tumama said he had never been to England, but had a wife there called Roberto.
He spoke about hearing voices in his head.
The court heard that at various times Tumama has told authorities his mother or grandmother was Queen Elizabeth.
It is alleged Tumama bailed up staff at the Ashmont Inn bottle shop on January 26 and February 5.
After the February 5 incident, Tumama allegedly rang triple 0, told the operator his name and address in Ashmont and said he wanted to be deported to England.
He then allegedly told police who interviewed him: "I wanted to get deported back to my country to get out of here."
Police were not told about the January 26 incident and learned of it only after the February incident.
After talking with Tumama, Judge Norrish said it seemed to him Tumama had a "delusional presentation".
The judge told Tumama he should not plead guilty if he was mentally ill at the time of the alleged offences.
Mr Hall said he had a view the case should have taken a different course on June 18, but he was not in court that day.
He said the Crown wanted to withdraw the armed robbery allegations in the current District Court sittings and arraign Tumama on a different charge.
Public defender Michael King on Tuesday assisted the court with Tumama's case on an amicus basis, bringing Judge Norrish's attention to a number of matters, including the triple 0 call and a letter from the Legal Aid solicitor explaining what happened in court on June 18.
Tumama has been in custody since his arrest on February 5.
Tumama told Judge Norrish he did not want legal representation, but Judge Norrish insisted he speak with Mr King.
He said he wanted an independent psychiatric opinion on whether Tumama was mentally ill at the time of the alleged attempted hold-ups.
The judge stood the case over until 2pm to give Mr King time to talk with Tumama.
When the matter came back to court, Judge Norrish was told the Legal Aid Commission would represent Tumama.
The case was then adjourned to the Wagga District Court sittings starting on September 15.