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According to Associated Press (AP), Taylor's lawyer, Karim Khan, reported that the former Liberian warlord had fired him preferring instead to take the matters into his own hands and personally conduct his own defence.
Although the trial judge, Julia Sebutinde of Uganda reportedly asked Khan to go ahead with his assignment at the opening of proceedings, Khan had failed to listen.
Apologising and even at the pain of charges of contempt of court being brought against him, the lawyer gathered his files and left the courtroom, AP said.
The court ordered the trial to continue, and Chief Prosecutor Stephen Rapp began outlining the horrors inflicted on Sierra Leone villagers by forces allegedly under Taylor's control.
The attackers would randomly murder people and enslave others to use as fighters, miners and farmers, Rapp said, adding: "The attackers would mutilate - amputating arms, limbs, gouging eyes. Children conscripted by the attackers killing their own parents."
Taylor was not in court, but in a letter read to judges by Khan, he claimed he had been prevented from seeing a court official mandated with making sure he was properly defended, and that his one court-appointed attorney was heavily outgunned by the prosecution team of nine.
"At one time I had confidence in this court's ability to dispense justice. Over time, it has become clear that confidence has been misplaced," Taylor's statement said. "I will not receive a fair trial."
"He's taking the blame for what others did," said his daughter, Charen Taylor, who grew up in the United States and dropped out of college to help organise his defence.
Rapp told the court Taylor had been assigned a lawyer, assistant attorneys, a special investigator and court funds.
Of Taylor’s trial, a former Chief Prosecution at the Special Court for Sierra Leone, David Grane said: "It's a time in the history of Africa that the leaders ... go on notice that they just cannot destroy their own people for whatever purpose."
The atrocities in Sierra Leone's 1991-2002 civil war are well-documented. Fighters - often children drugged and turned into merciless killers at brutal rebel training camps - murdered thousands of men, women and children and mutilated more by hacking off hands and limbs with axes and machetes. Women were raped and abducted to become sex slaves.
Many victims had the initials of rebel groups carved into their skin with burning-hot bayonets. Children were sent out with burlap bags to hack off and collect limbs and were punished if the bags were not full when they returned.
When witnesses begin testifying, survivors, including amputees, will take the stand along with former allies from Taylor's inner sanctum who will be critical to proving he controlled rebels responsible for atrocities in another country.
Many will also be expected to testify anonymously for fear of reprisals from Taylor's supporters, and some will be put in the witness protection schemes after giving evidence.
"Prosecutors will have to prove that the linkage exists between Taylor's alleged participation in the crimes and the crimes themselves," said Elise Keppler of Human Rights Watch, who also added: "There is no question these kinds of cases are difficult, they are complex."
While the charges he faces refer to events in Sierra Leone, Liberia's neighbour, Taylor also is linked to brutality in his own country.
From 1989 to 1997, Taylor led the rebel National Patriotic Front of Liberia, whose aim was to unseat then-President Samuel K. Doe.
Taylor was believed to be one of the first warlords to recruit children, who were organised into a Small Boys Unit and christened with names like "Babykiller." Taylor was later elected Liberia's president in 1997.
Taylor was indicted in 2003, accused of sponsoring Sierra Leone's rebel Revolutionary United Front in exchange for diamonds. Taylor agreed to give up power and go into exile in Nigeria, but was arrested while escaping from Nigeria in March 2006.
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