Emergency services at the scene after reports of multiple stabbings. Photo / Craig Baxter
The case for the man who allegedly stabbed four people in a Dunedin supermarket has stalled as the court awaits a psychological report.
The 42-year-old appeared in the High Court at Dunedin by audio-visual link this morning on four counts of attempted murder after allegedly attacking two staff supermarket staff members and a married couple at the Cumberland St Countdown on May 10 this year.
He pleaded not guilty at his previous hearing and elected trial by jury.
Crown prosecutor Richard Smith told the court today that the clinician assessing the defendant needed more time to complete their report.
Justice Robert Osborne remanded the man in custody until November.
The issue of name suppression, Smith said, would likely be determined by the contents of the report.
Suppression of the alleged stabber's identity would therefore continue until his next appearance, the judge ruled.
Victims Vanessa Andrews and her partner Jorge Fuenzalida - a Corrections officer - released a statement last week saying the incident was still very much on their minds.
"We try to help people where we can, and that day we heard people in distress. During the process we both got badly injured," they said.
"We still have a long way to recover, but we are getting there one day at a time with some good days and some not so good days."
Countdown senior manager Dallas Wilson, who spent a week in hospital, said he was stabbed four times and was lucky that no vital organs were hit.
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