A New Zealand man has reportedly told an Australian court he felt he was being "kidnapped" by police after allegedly being violent towards his girlfriend in public.
The Courier Mail reported the New Zealander, who cannot be named, appeared at the Brisbane Arrest Court on Monday charged with breaching a personalised violence order and obstructing police.
It's alleged the man and his girlfriend had an argument during a night out in Fortitude Valley in Brisbane late last Friday night. The argument was reportedly over the man exchanging social media details with another woman.
Police allege the man became violent with his girlfriend, grabbing her around her neck. Other members of the public intervened and called for police help.
In court on Monday, the man claimed he had been "kidnapped" by police without reason. He said his girlfriend had been irritated by another woman and the alleged incident was him showing her what she was doing to him, the Courier Mail reported.
Photos of his girlfriend's neck were shown to the court, and the man told Magistrate Tina Privitera that he was drunk and that his girlfriend had "very, very sensitive skin".
"When she gets out of the shower she has… a rash," he reportedly said.
He also claimed he cooperated with officers by providing his license to them and asked why they were taking him to a police station.
"It was like I’ve been kidnapped… No one read me my rights… I did not get a phone call," the Courier Mail reports the man as saying.
The man, who was representing himself in court, applied for bail, but it was opposed by the police prosecutor who said the Kiwi's behaviour was "brazen" and he had tried to shift blame onto his girlfriend. The Courier Mail also reported police believed the man was a serious flight risk.
The New Zealander said he was stressed as he was scheduled to fly back to Aotearoa on Monday evening to see family for the first time in years.
The Magistrate told him, "you won't be on that plane", and denied him bail. She told him he had shown no remorse for his actions and advised he got a lawyer, according to the report.
He reportedly appeared shocked by the decision and paced around the dock.
During the court proceedings, the man made what the Courier Mail described as "wild gestures" towards his girlfriend who was sitting in the courtroom, including telling her to phone someone.
When the woman was asked to leave the courtroom, the man apparently objected to it.
He said he was in Australia on a visa to receive hip surgery in New South Wales, the report said.
The matter has been adjourned until Wednesday.
