Accused to undergo psychiatric assessment

After repeated refusals to speak with lawyers and refusing Thursday to even speak with a judge, a Halifax woman was ordered to undergo a 30-day psychiatric evaluation to determine her fitness to stand trial.

Karin Tara Sorenson, 47, of Gottingen Street, has made an impression in Cape Breton since she was first arrested April 5.

She is charged with instigating two evacuations within a week, she has refused to talk with potential defence lawyers, demanded the court appoint an international human rights lawyer to her case and revealed Thursday, she has been on a hunger strike since Wednesday while being incarcerated at the Cape Breton Correctional Centre.

Her lack of co-operation before provincial court Judge Diane McGrath was enough for the judge to impose her own order that Sorenson be assessed to determine mental fitness and criminal responsibility.

After an earlier court appearance this week, the Crown said it planned on making such an application to determine Sorenson’s state of mental health.

She is now to return to provincial court May 5.

In an earlier court appearance, the accused stated she has renounced her Canadian citizenship and that she would prefer the court to simply set her free vowing she would never return.

Sorenson is charged in connection with two evacuations — one at Home Depot on April 6 and the other at the Sydney Justice Centre on April 13.

She was first arrested April 5 after Cape Breton Regional Police were alerted to a woman wandering in and out of traffic in Groves Point.

She appeared in court the following day and was released on conditions that included she return to Halifax and that she not pose a hazard in traffic.

Later that day, Sorenson allegedly showed up at Home Depot armed with a knife and barricaded herself in a shelving unit at the store resulting in an evacuation of the building.

No injuries were reported. Last week, Sorenson is alleged to have caused an evacuation at the Sydney Justice Centre when a sprinkler head was damaged in an interview room in the holding cell area of the sheriff department. The damage resulted in a fire alarm prompting everyone in the building to leave before fire officials issued an all clear signal.

She is now charged with two counts of breaching court orders, two counts of breaching a peace bond and single counts of possession of a weapon for a dangerous purpose (a knife), and mischief by property damage.

Last December, Sorenson signed a peace bond in Halifax after she was found wandering in and out of traffic.