PHOTO: Vivien Yap
A court hearing of claims levelled against the self-proclaimed sovereign citizen sparring with western suburbs property high-flyer Vivien Yap has been adjourned after a squabble with the judge about his identity and whether he was, in fact, a “person”.
It was the first time Yap’s former client Sandi Matic had fronted court since being warned to lawyer-up in December after being hit with a criminal contempt charge.
The fresh charge related to an email Matic allegedly sent to Jessica Border, a member of Yap’s legal team, which was then shared with numerous politicians and members of the court, including WA Attorney-General John Quigley, parliamentarians Peter Collier and Pierre Yang and chief justice Peter Quinlan.
The Ray White Dalkeith boss and Matic have been locked in a bitter legal battle since February last year after a spat over the sale of his lavish Mount Claremont home.
Despite signing off on the sale, Yap claims Matic has since threatened to gatecrash her home opens and publicly advertise his dissatisfaction with the transaction and forced her to seek court restraints he later breached.
But the case has been beset by delays over what Justice Marcus Solomon has previously described as Matic’s rejection of authority, with Matic arrested and brought before the court in December after refusing to appear.
Matic entered and exited the court twice on Tuesday, without legal representation, repeatedly rejecting Justice Gail Archer’s invitations to sit at the bar table while claiming he was in fact not Sandi Matic, but an agent appointed to represent him.
After proceeding on the basis the man present was in fact Matic, Yap’s lawyer Martin Bennett told the court the email cast aspersions against a range of people tied to the case, accusing them of committing fraud and calling on parliamentarians for help.
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Despite initially telling the court he did not wish to defend the action, and being told the court could not address him by first name only, Matic interjected from the back of the gallery.
Archer warned Matic the only people entitled to defend the matter were Matic himself or his lawyer, to which he replied: “I am a man who goes by the name of Sandi. I don’t have a last name and I am not a person. A human being is an artificial construct. I am a man.”
He then requested to speak with Justice Archer and Bennett privately, gesturing to members of the media and asking they be removed from the courtroom.
Bennett said he believed Matic was seeking to abuse the court process, having taken the unusual step of writing to him and giving him advice.
“We say the court has given more than a fair indulgence to Mr Matic,” he said.
“He well knew what the matter today was about and the allegations made against him, and he has been strongly urged on multiple occasions to take legal advice.
“To the public watching, it suggests the court is being played with.”
After explaining the case against him and urging him to get a lawyer, Archer told Matic she would take the unusual step of adjourning the matter again until January 30 to allow him to get legal advice.
“If they prove it, that allegation is a serious one. People can be fined and can be imprisoned,” she said.
“This is not the sort of case people should attempt to defend on their own.”
Last month, WAtoday revealed Matic was at risk of losing his Joondanna property, with the Commonwealth Bank moving in to repossess it amid allegations he was $22,800 behind on his mortgage.
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