Magistrate Stuart Shearer orders arrest of Emma-Leigh Rose Paasi for foul mouthed remark during mother's case AN 18-year-old who swore at a magistrate and disrupted the packed public gallery in the Brisbane Magistrates Court on Wednesday spent four hours in the police watch house after being threatened - but never charged - with contempt. Magistrate Stuart Shearer ordered the arrest of Emma-Leigh Rose Paasi on Wednesday morning after she allegedly refused to leave the public gallery when asked to by police prosecutor Sgt Carrie Davidson. During the exchange, Mr Shearer alleged the young woman said he was "a c---." Ms Paasi had been in court to support her mother, Roberta McGeady. After her arrest, Ms Paasi was left to dwell on the incident from inside the Brisbane City Police Watch House. Mr Shearer told her she was remanded in custody pending a possible charge of contempt of court, which would be issued by him from the bench. Given the sheer size of the court list and a hearing in another court, Mr Shearer said he would not be able to hear the case until 4.30pm. Ms Paasi, who was represented by senior barrister Jeff Hunter SC, fronted court from the prisoner's dock after spending some four hours in the cells. Mr Hunter argued Ms Paasi's detention in custody was unlawful because she was never charged. "Your Honour has remanded her in custody without charge, without particulars, for three of four hours, in circumstances where in my respectful submission you had no powers to do that," he said. Mr Hunter argued it was "procedurally unfair" for Ms Paasi to be detained without being charged. He said he accepted Mr Shearer had been faced with a "difficult decision in the face of a busy morning." Mr Shearer said he had been dealing with a bail application for the young woman's mother when she "disrupted proceedings" and by "calling me a c---." "I view that seriously given the fact that the court room was full," he said. Mr Hunter said the allegation was refuted and insisted Ms Paasi had instead directed her anger at Legal Aid and the police, not the magistrate. He said Ms Paasi lived in assisted accommodation at North Gate with her partner and had lost her father last year after he walked out on the family. Mr Hunter said his client was particularly anxious about the prospect of her mother going to jail in those circumstances. He offered an apology on her behalf, adding that Ms Paasi "felt like an idiot," "overreacted" and did not mean for her outburst to be directed at the bench. Mr Shearer said he accepted the young woman's apology. "I take no further action," he said. Ms Paasi was released moments later, into the arms of her worried family. Outside court, she said her four hours in the cells had been frightening. "It wasn't really much fun," she said. It's cold and a metal. Around two hours into it I was wondering whether I was going to be charged. Mum Roberta McGeady said her daughter was regretful. "She acted in a disorderly way towards the court and for that she is sorry," she said.