A man accused of stabbing five people in a rampage across Melbourne will be forced to hand over his DNA after refusing to allow police to swab his mouth.
Christopher Raftopoulos, 31, appeared at Melbourne Magistrates Court on Friday by video link from prison, with a new lawyer after he dumped his previous representative mid-hearing a week ago.
He was muted for the short hearing, after telling the court: "You have incarcerated me for protecting every planet in the solar system."
Raftopoulos presented with catatonic schizophrenia when he was arrested on January 7 after he allegedly went on an unprovoked stabbing spree in Melbourne's inner suburbs.
He is facing 15 charges, including recklessly causing injury, after allegedly stabbing five people in four attacks over three hours at Southbank, the CBD and St Kilda on January 6 and 7.
Prosecutors asked for the court to order Raftopoulos undergo a compulsory forensic procedure to obtain his DNA, after he refused to allow a swab to be taken.
"The type of compulsory procedure sought is a buccal swab of the mouth, for the purposes of obtaining a DNA sample to compare with the DNA profile from a knife that was seized," a prosecutor told the court.
Raftopoulos' new lawyer Daniel Thompson did not oppose the application but said his client had told him he would not give consent for the procedure.
Magistrate Kieran Gilligan said, based on CCTV, there were reasonable grounds that Raftopoulos was a suspect and the DNA sample "may confirm or disprove" his involvement in the offending.
He made orders to allow police to take the DNA swab from the accused stabber and stated they may use force to enable to procedure to be conducted.
"The respondent has refused to give consent to the request or is incapable of giving reasonable consent by way of mental impairment," Mr Gilligan said.
Raftopoulos sacked his former lawyer, Michael Amad, during a previous hearing when he told the court: "This lawyer is not my lawyer, I want to represent myself."
He also flagged he would apply for bail, but no application has been listed as yet.
He remains in a prison psychiatric ward and will return to court on February 12.
beyondblue 1300 22 4636
