The 44-year-old man, who is not being named in order to protect the alleged victim's identity, appeared in the ACT Magistrates Court on Thursday morning.

He did not enter a plea to a single charge of common assault.

In documents tendered to the court, police claim the unemployed defendant demanded cash from his grandmother at their home on Wednesday evening.

The alleged victim was in bed at the time in question, with her carer preparing her nightly medication.

The man also tried to phone his mother to ask her for money, but she did not answer and he, according to police, "became furious".

"The defendant lost his temper and started shouting incomprehensible things at [his grandmother]," officers allege in court documents.

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The man is said to have threatened to get a knife and use it on himself, in what his grandmother later told police she believed to be part of his attempts to make her give him some money.

When she did not do so, her grandson allegedly grabbed her by the shoulders and yelled in her face.

"She had been scared of him and his actions throughout the day." the police documents say.

When the man eventually went out onto the front porch, the elderly woman's carer was able to lock him outside and call police.

Officers claim to have arrived to find the 44-year-old yelling at his grandmother to let him back in.

When police spoke to the 95-year-old woman, she said she believed her grandson needed "serious help" to deal with his "severe drug problem" and ongoing mental illness issues.

After a night in police custody, the man faced court from a remote room within the ACT court precinct.

Legal Aid lawyer Ellie Wallis applied for him to be released on bail.

Ms Wallis said the man's mental health problems were best treated in the community, adding that he would be able to live with his partner in Reid rather than returning to his grandmother's place.

But prosecutor Crystal Holt opposed bail and special magistrate Jane Campbell agreed, without even needing to hear Ms Holt's submissions, that it should be refused.

Ms Campbell said she had "significant concerns" about the likelihood of the 44-year-old committing crimes and endangering his grandmother's safety if he was released.

She added that the man had a history of family violence, with his grandmother, a vulnerable woman, having already been a victim of his in the past.

The magistrate accordingly remanded the defendant in custody.

The 44-year-old man, who tried to interrupt a number of times as Ms Campbell gave her decision, is due back in court next month.

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