A 34-year-old Dunedin man has been charged with attempted murder following an incident at a Mornington house on Wednesday night.
The man was believed to be suffering from a serious mental illness, public defender Campbell Savage told Judge Michael Crosbie, at the man's first appearance in the Dunedin District Court yesterday.
Mr Savage asked for a remand for an assessment of the man's fitness to plead, and of his sanity at the time of the alleged offence. He was not opposed to the defendant going to Wakari, Mr Savage said. Because of the mental health issues, he asked for an interim order for name suppression.
Judge Crosbie remanded the man to March 28 for psychiatric assessment and a report on his mental state. The initial assessment yesterday was the man was likely to be suffering from a major mental illness, the judge said.
Because of that interim diagnosis, the judge agreed to suppress the man's name in the meantime, but said that order would have to be reviewed later.
The name of the complainant was also suppressed.
