February 07, 2011

Wounding charge follows samurai sword incident

A more serious charge has been laid against a man arrested after an alleged samurai sword incident in Christchurch on January 21.

The man was granted interim name suppression when the case was called before Judge Bernard Kendall in the Christchurch District Court today.

The man, a 40-year-old from Sandringham in Auckland, was charged with threatening to kill a woman relative at his first court appearance on January 24.

He did not appear in court on that day because he was too ill and was being held in mental health care at Christchurch?s Hillmorton Hospital.

Today a doctor?s letter again asked for his attendance at court to be excused and sought a further two weeks? delay for the psychiatric report to be completed.

Police have today charged the man with wounding the woman relative with intent to cause grievous bodily harm.

The 61-year-old was admitted to hospital after the incident which police said involved a samurai sword-wielding man being struck with a plastic hearth brush by an 81-year-old neighbour of the alleged victim to stop the attack.

The man was granted suppression at the request of defence counsel Phillip Allan and was remanded to February 21 in custody at the hospital for the report to be completed.