Hearings for accused

Roderick Christian Powell interrupted magistrate Imad Abdul-Karim several times as he pushed the line that the allegation against him was invalid under constitutional law.

The 58-year-old tried to insist in Albury Local Court that his matter had to go to the High Court.

But Mr Abdul-Karim, who patiently explained to Powell the course the matter could take, said the case did not need to go outside the Local Court jurisdiction.

He said Powell could indeed “argue constitutional law”.

Powell, who entered court using a mobility walker festooned with flags but was able to walk unaided to the bar table, now faces two separate hearings.

The first to be held on May 11 involves a charge that he loitered in or near QEII Square, an area regularly frequented by children, on November 25 as a convicted child sex offender.

“I’m not guilty your honour,” Powell said.

“I wasn’t loitering.”

A second hearing will be held on June 29 over a NSW Police child protection order application.

The court was told these had to be contested separately as the outcome of the loitering charge could influence the other case.

Powell insisted he was not a child sex offender as he “cared greatly” for children.

But he said he also didn’t want to cause trouble for himself, regardless of this claimed innocence, by going near children.

“It’s just that I’m not guilty of those charges of 28 years ago,” he said.

Powell said the real offender was someone “who I met in jail” who happened to have the same name and who looked the same.

Powell was convicted in the District Court at Perth – it was actually in 1993 – of a sexual offence and was detained in a psychiatric institution for 10 years.

On release he was put on a community protection order that involved him reporting annually for 15 years. He moved to Wodonga in 2010.