The saying goes that a person who represents himself has a fool for a client.

Without quoting that adage, District Judge Pete Shaffer tried Monday to make that point to a 26-year-old Pittsburgh man accused of rape.

“If you had an attorney, your attorney would advise you not to testify,” Shaffer told Anthony J. Pete, “but you don’t have an attorney.”

After seemingly poised to cross exam a Butler police detective, Pete apparently took Shaffer’s legal enlightenment to heart.

“Based on what you said, I better not,” Pete told the judge, ending his momentary practice of law.

There would be no cross-examination or testimony from the accused.

Moments later, Shaffer ordered Pete held for court on charges of rape, involuntary deviate sexual intercourse, statutory sexual assault, aggravated indecent assault, indecent assault and corruption of minors.

He is accused of assaulting a 15-year-old girl on Sept. 16 at a home on Butler’s east side. The child’s mother allegedly caught him in the act.

Detective Sgt. John Johnson testified at Monday’s hearing that he spoke to the alleged victim and the girl’s mother at Butler Memorial Hospital.

The accuser, who previously knew Pete, recounted that he walked into her bedroom and fondled her.

The girl told police that when she tried to yell for her mother, Pete covered her mouth with his hand. He allegedly raped her, Johnson said.

The child’s mother said she awakened and walked into the bedroom, finding the naked Pete on top of her daughter, according to court documents. The suspect grabbed his clothes and ran out of the house, police said.

Johnson testified that the mother recounted having prior conversations with Pete, and that he knew the girl’s age.

Officers later that day arrested Pete at an apartment in the 300 block of East Brady Street.

Johnson said Pete waived his Miranda rights and admitted having sex with the girl.

Pete was to have had his preliminary hearing Sept. 23 but when he showed up without an attorney, Shaffer continued the proceedings until Monday, allowing him time to hire a lawyer or to apply for a public defender.

“I couldn’t get in touch with anyone,” Pete told Shaffer when asked why he still had no attorney.

Pete indicated he was ready to act as pro se defendant but thought better of it after Shaffer’s warning about self-incrimination.

Afterward, the judge told Pete that it was not too late to get a lawyer as the case heads for possible trial.

“I strongly recommend you get an attorney,” Shaffer told Pete, who remains in the Butler County Prison on $50,000 bail.