Woman ‘courageously’ disarmed attacker
An Akaroa woman courageously disarmed an intellectually disabled woman who had just stabbed her in the back, said a judge during a mental impairment hearing in the Christchurch District Court.
Judge Brian Callaghan has found that the attacker – 65-year-old Christine Tucker of Akaroa – is unfit to stand trial and has remanded her for a further psychiatric assessment.
Tucker will he held in a secure unit at Hillmorton Hospital for the assessment under the Criminal Procedures (Mentally Impaired Persons) Act to be done ahead of the the case being disposed of on July 20.
Defence counsel Lee Lee Heah told the court today that Tucker had no memory of the stabbing. She had been been unable to take legal instructions from Tucker and consented to the judge making a finding about the facts of the case on the basis of written material handed in by the police.
Tucker is charged with causing grievous bodily harm to the woman in the stabbing that took place in the victim’s home about 2.45pm on February 9.
Judge Callaghan said the victim knew Tucker, who apparently lived nearby.
Tucker entered the house through a back door and went up behind the victim who was sitting in a chair and stabbed her in the back with a knife.
He said there was then a scuffle in which the victim courageously disarmed the attacker. When she was interviewed by police soon after, Tucker admitted what she had done.
Judge Callaghan said the material presented by the police established that the offending had occurred “on the balance of probabilities”.
He then considered reports from a clinical psychologist and a consultant psychiatrist, who reached similar conclusions that Tucker was intellectually disabled and unfit to stand trial.
Judge Callaghan remanded Tucker to a secure facility for the report on disposition of the case to be completed and thanked the defence counsel and the forensic psychiatric nurse who had assisted at court.
Category: News
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