A Vietnamese menace to society with a long criminal history has faced court after allegedly snatching a baby from a pram on an Adelaide bus in front of the child’s horrified mum.
Thanh Duc Danny Nguyen, 49, appeared in Elizabeth Magistrates Court by video link on Monday and told a magistrate to “fuck off” before his duty solicitor informed the court he could not represent the accused, The Advertiser reported.
Nguyen, who has 158 prior criminal convictions, was refused bail due to behaviour, and is yet to enter a plea to a charge of aggravated assault and disorderly behaviour in a public passenger vehicle over the alleged incident.
The career criminal, who was shirtless wearing blue rubber gloves, allegedly assaulted the one-year-old child in front of his mother on the 502 bus in Salisbury East on Friday and pretended to breastfeed the infant, the court heard.
“[The baby’s other] witnessed the applicant reach into the pram, un-clip the child and remove the child from the pram and held the child towards his own chest,” prosecutors said.
“She said she leant over and attempted to grab [the child] from the accused, however he then tightened his grip … she then grabbed [the child].”
The woman told the bus driver who then called police. The child was uninjured.
Prosecutors said that if Nguyen was not granted bail an order under Section 269 of the Criminal Law Consolidation Act 1935 would be requested by community mental health, allowing the court to detain him and assess his mental competence.
Magistrate Lana Chester refused bail due to his lack of cooperation and outbursts during proceedings, which included him saying he “didn’t do nothing, man”, and detained him until September under Section 269.
