News Service from House Harris

Vic: Man accused of refugee's murder refuses to leave jail cell

MELBOURNE, Feb 17 AAP - A murder suspect will be extradited to Western Australia after security guards had to force him from his Melbourne jail cell to face court.

Osman Ahmadyar, 32, of Dandenong, refused to budge from his cell to face the extradition hearing after being charged with the murder of Afghan refugee Abed Ahymad Shah, 29, in Perth.

Shah's body was found in a unit in the southern Perth suburb of Victoria Park by his housemate about 1pm (WDT) on Saturday.

Ahmadyar allegedly travelled from Melbourne to Perth before the murder and returned to Melbourne on Saturday.

Victorian police applied to extradite Ahmadyar to Perth to face a charge of murder, but the Melbourne Magistrates Court was told on Tuesday he was refusing to leave his cell and would not speak to anyone.

He had refused to speak to a legal aid lawyer, an interpreter or a psychiatric liaison officer, the court was told.

He had a major depressive illness but was not deemed catatonic.

After one magistrate stood down from the matter because he was not "robust" enough to force Ahmadyar out of his cell, the Afghan national was eventually brought to court by security guards.

He was handcuffed and looked down for the entire hearing.

At one point, he broke down when given a chance to speak.

Through an interpreter, Ahmadyar said he had spent most of his time in hospitals since coming to Australia from Afghanistan, but did not elaborate.

"I don't know what I did," he said through the interpreter.

After Ahmadyar's initial refusal to leave his cell, Magistrate Duncan Reynolds said he was not prepared to make an order to forcibly bring him to court and stood down from hearing the matter.

"I just can't see that I've got the power," Mr Reynolds said.

He suggested another magistrate might be "more robust" in meeting the police request.

Magistrate Elizabeth Lambden ordered Ahmadyar be extradited to WA to face Perth Magistrates Court on Friday.