A controversial candidate in the recent Canning byelection is behind bars, after a warrant issued for her arrest was triggered following a no-show at Fremantle Magistrates Court.
Teresa van Lieshout, who was facing two charges of breaching bail, one of stealing and one of wilful unlawful damage, walked out of her trial in September during a lunch adjournment and did not return.
Magistrate Young, who was presiding over the trial, said a court officer had attempted to contact Ms van Lieshout.
"I was advised she was refusing to return to court, unhappy with the way proceedings were conducted, presumably on the same grounds as she had expressed during the trial, which was that all those involved in the prosecution were Nazis and fascists," he said.
"So it was clear to me that she was making an informed and conscious decision not to return to court as a form of protest."
At the time Ms van Lieshout said she had done nothing wrong and wouldn’t be handing herself in, despite the arrest warrant.
"Don't be ridiculous," she said.
"I'm going to fight publicly for the next 30 years for all the political and government men to be jailed, including the magistrate Young."
Ms van Lieshout refused to reveal her whereabouts, or even if she was still in Western Australia.
"I could be in China," she said.
"I don't care, I want them all jailed – all the magistrates, all the judges."
Ms van Lieshout is scheduled to appear in the Supreme Court on November 12.
