A man charged over an allegedly random hammer attack in the Port Macquarie CBD, has been ordered to undergo a mental health assessment.
Levi Hill, of no fixed address, was handcuffed and agitated when he appeared in the dock in Port Macquarie Local Court on Monday, November 20,
The 29-year-old, whose grandparents sat at the back of the court, at times yelled out as Magistrate Georgina Darcy recommended he be taken to Port Macquarie Base Hospital to undergo a Section 19(b) Mental Health Assessment.
Levi is accused of attacking a 40-year-old man with a hammer near the intersection of Clarence and Hay streets around 1.45am on Sunday, November 19.
The alleged victim was taken to Port Macquarie Base Hospital with multiple injuries to his legs, arms and head.
Police allege Levi had threatened the older man earlier in the evening and had returned to assault him.
Officers seized a hammer and balaclava at the scene. Levi was taken to Port Macquarie Police Station and charged with:
- face blackened or disguised with intention to commit indictable offence
- use offensive weapon with intention to commit indictable offence
- assault occasioning actual bodily harm, and
- stalk intimidate intend fear physical harm.
Levi's lawyer Michael Dampney told the court that his client suffers multiple mental health and drug-related issues and that his mother had been trying to arrange for him to be medically assessed.
"Given the bizarre nature of the allegations, I am satisfied that he appears to me to be a mentally ill or disordered person," Magistrate Darcy said.
She ordered Levi be taken from the court to hospital by ambulance for assessment.
Court documents show that "if on assessment at the mental health facility the defendant is found not to be a mentally ill person or mentally disordered person, they are to be brought by a prescribed person back before a Magistrate or an authorised justice as soon as practicable unless granted bail by a police officer at that facility."
