A woman accused of hiding an escaped jail inmate in her home fired her defence counsel this morning, tearfully telling the judge she doesn't believe the lawyer was defending her well enough.

Raven Tsandaya, also known as Bev Smith, told territorial court her suggestions of people to call in her own defence were ignored by her now-former lawyer, Gordon Coffin.

'I've been told it will do me no good,' Tsandaya, 42, told Judge John Faulkner.

Coffin is a senior legal aid lawyer in Whitehorse. He told the court this morning the solicitor-client relationship had broken down irretrievably.

Faulkner granted the lawyer's application for leave to withdraw as counsel. He adjourned the matter to Friday afternoon to give Tsandaya time to find another lawyer.

Tsandaya is charged with rescuing Stephen Haga from lawful custody and being an accessory after the fact. If convicted, she could face up to five years in a federal penitentiary, though maximum sentences are rarely handed out.

Her trial had been scheduled to resume this morning to hear telephone evidence from an RCMP officer who is currently Outside on vacation.

Last week, two police officers testified about Tsandaya telling them at different times the Whitehorse Correctional Centre escaper had been staying at her house for two days while he was on the lam.

He was found hiding in her McCandless Crescent home's attic two days after he fled the Yukon's lone jail.

The woman told Faulkner she's innocent, 'but I don't believe this person is giving me that defence,' she said, referring to the defence lawyer.

Tsandaya said she'd been told the evidence against her was purely circumstantial. She told Faulkner there were people who'd been in her home who could testify on her behalf.

When Haga showed up at her home after he jumped the WCC fences, it was someone else who let him in while she slept, she said.

She didn't want the man in her home, she said, and questioned why she'd put her neck out for a white man because after years of observing land claims and other negotiations, she doesn't trust white people.

And when the police arrived, surrounding her home, she walked out of the house, noted Tsandaya, pointing out she didn't go back inside and warn Haga the RCMP were after him.

She indicated her lawyer's plan had been to call Haga to testify, but she questioned how anyone with a criminal record as long as his would be believed in court.

The woman became particularly upset when she spoke about being incarcerated at WCC for the last two months, missing the last Christmas and New Year's with her husband of 10 years, who died in late January, four days before her trial began.

She wasn't allowed to attend his funeral, she told the judge.