Mental evaluation extended for suspected Montreal psychology-ward attacker

There

will be an extended psychiatric evaluation for a man charged in a violent case at a Montreal hospital where patients were killed.

Idelson Guerrier will return to court Sept. 4 after the psychiatric team overseeing his file requested a 30-day delay during a hearing today.

Lawyers involved say Guerrier’s case is complicated and there is a lack of staff at the institute that will do the testing, so a delay was necessary.

Guerrier, a patient at the psychiatric hospital, is charged with the attempted murder of another patient and break and enter. An assault on the 71-year-old woman, who survived, came just days after two other patients were found dead.

Two males — aged 69 and 77 years old — were killed by asphyxiation in the hospital’s psychiatric ward at Montreal’s Notre Dame Hospital on June 16 and June 21.

Initially, hospital staff did not suspect foul play in either of the deaths. Officials said both victims suffered from medical problems as well as psychological ones.

Guerrier is being investigated in the two killings. However, he has only been charged in the attack on the patient who survived.

The Crown says the police investigation is ongoing and there could be additional charges.