An accused serial stabber has dumped his lawyer and opted to represent himself during his first court appearance after allegedly attacking five strangers.
Christopher Raftopoulos, a former plasterer, appeared in Melbourne Magistrates Court on Friday via video link from a prison psychiatric ward.
The 31-year-old presented with catatonic schizophrenia when he was taken into custody on Sunday, after it's alleged he carried a bag of knives and went on an unprovoked stabbing spree in Melbourne's inner suburbs.
He is facing 15 charges, including recklessly causing injury and possessing a controlled weapon without excuse, after allegedly stabbing five people in four attacks over three hours at Southbank, the CBD and St Kilda on January 6 and 7.
Raftopoulos refused to leave the cells and speak to anyone, including his appointed lawyer Michael Amad, when he was due to face court on Monday.
The hearing was adjourned to Friday afternoon after he told the court over video link: "This lawyer is not my lawyer, I want to represent myself."
He flagged that he would like to apply for bail, which Magistrate Megan Casey said she could not accommodate that day but suggested he liaise with court co-ordinators to arrange for a bail application to be listed.
Raftopoulos appeared unwell and consistently interrupted the magistrate during the short hearing, where he spouted theories about how he "protected every planet in the solar system".
"I protected the sun and every planet in the solar system, Magistrate Casey what do you have to say for yourself?" he told the court.
He asked the magistrate what date it was, and when she replied "today is the 12th of January", he said "disturbing".
Prosecutor Jessica Van Dyk asked for eight weeks to allow a brief of evidence to be compiled, as she said police were scanning CCTV over several locations and awaiting medical material from five different victims.
She applied for a compulsory procedure to obtain a sample of Raftopoulos' DNA but the magistrate adjourned that for a week.
He is due to face court again on January 19 via video link.
Four victims, a couple both aged 31, a 28-year-old Mount Waverley man and a 31-year-old English man, were taken to hospital after being stabbed.
All remain in hospital in a stable condition.
The fifth victim, a 24-year-old man, has since been released.
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