A Vancouver judge will hear testimony in June that a man accused in downtown machete attacks should be found not criminally responsible due to a mental disorder.
Ibrahim Adbela Bakhit appeared before Vancouver provincial court Judge Ellen Gordon March 24 on four charges each of assault with a weapon and aggravated assault, one count of attempted murder and two of possessing a weapon for a dangerous purpose.
He also faces charges of arson in relation to inhabited property, arson damaging property and possession of incendiary material.
Defence lawyer Robert Bellows told Gordon that Bakhit would need a one-day hearing June 12 or earlier.
At that time, he said, Crown and defence could present an agreed statement of facts.
Bellows also said the court would hear evidence from a forensic psychiatrist regarding Bakhit not being criminally responsible due to a mental disorder.
Bakhit appeared by video and was friendly and courteous before the hearing began.
The charges stem from an Aug. 6 incident where a man allegedly lit his Granville Street SRO room ablaze before attacking four people with a machete and stabbing them, leaving at least one individual, police said, with life-altering injuries.
Officers shot and seriously injured the suspect. That prompted a review by the Independent Investigations Office, which examines B.C. cases of police-involved death or serious injury.
