Axe-attack suspect deemed fit to stand trial
Richard Andrew Hunter, 47, of Napadogan, ordered to undergo another psychiatric assessment, this one to determine possible exemption from criminal responsibility
A Napadogan man alleged to have brandished an axe at two others in Fredericton last month has been found fit to stand trial, but will undergo another psychiatric examination.
Richard Andrew Hunter, 47, of Third Street in Napadogan, about 70 kilometres north of Fredericton, faces counts of assault on Elias Eliakis and Matthew Hunter with an axe, uttering a threat to those men to cause them death and/or bodily harm, and possession of the axe for a purpose dangerous to the public peace.
The charges allege events in Fredericton on July 23.
Hunter, who’s been in custody since his arrest, was back in Fredericton provincial court Monday for a fitness hearing.
Court heard last month Hunter hears voices and suffers from delusions of grandeur, so Judge Lucie Mathurin ordered a psychiatric assessment to determine if Hunter is fit to stand trial.
A report from the Restigouche Hospital Centre - a secure psychiatric facility in Campbellton where such assessments are typically conducted - indicated Hunter is fit to stand trial, court heard Monday.
However, Judge Lucie Mathurin ordered another assessment, this time to determine if Hunter was suffering from a mental disorder at the time of the alleged offences that would exempt him from criminal responsibility.
The judge remanded him to Restigouche again and scheduled a new hearing on the criminal-responsibility issue for Sept. 25.
Don MacPherson can be contacted at ftonindependent@gmail.com.