Todd James Dent jailed after Noosa court appearance

A Noosa magistrate has warned a defendant the courtroom is no place for stand-up comedy as he sentenced the Maroochydore man to a stint behind bars.

A man who claimed he did not recognise the Magistrates Court jurisdiction and wanted a lawyer based in Malaysia to represent him has been jailed for two months.

Todd James Dent, 43, of Maroochydore started off his appearance in Noosa Magistrates Court on August 23, 2022 by asking if he could be called “Todd” and saying he dealt with a different jurisdiction.

Magistrate Haydn Stjernqvist said there was no place for stand-up comedy in the courtroom.

“It’s just normal court, normal court like you’ve been watching,” he said.

The defendant, who was self-represented, faced charges including failure to appear in accordance with undertaking.

The defendant was at first silent when the magistrate requested he submit a plea to some of the charges.

Mr Stjernqvist asked if Dent had understood the charges read out against him.

“Your honour I believe you’ve received a special notice of appearance from the court of equity, under section 450n this is not my jurisdiction, I am a member of private equity court,” the defendant replied.

Mr Stjernqvist asked the defendant to show cause over his failure to appear.

“In the rights, under my jurisdiction, I did appear under notice of special appearance,” Dent replied.

The defendant asked for an adjournment to prepare a brief of evidence for the court of equity and said he would love for the matter to be finalised.

“The only reason it’s not finalised is because of you,” Mr Stjernqvist said.

Dent claimed the court of private equity was in Malaysia and he was hoping to engage a lawyer from it.

The magistrate said he was trying to find a reason not to put Dent in jail.

Mr Stjernqvist gave the defendant a final chance to show cause as to why he did not appear on two occasions in court on June 3, 2021 and November 16, 2021.

“We appeared as notice of special appearance,” Dent replied.

Magistrate Stjernqvist said Dent was displaying contempt for the court and court processes.

He jailed Dent for two months on the failure to appear charges, with a parole release date of September 20, 2022.

Dent’s other matters were adjourned to a later date and he has yet to enter a plea on three charges of possess dangerous drugs, one charge of possessing anything used in the commission of a crime and one of possess utensils or pipes etc that had been used.