A man was ordered to be detained without limit of time at a high-security psychiatric hospital following a knife attack on his mother in Inverness.
Colin Millar, 29, was originally charged with attempting to murder Catherine Millar, 58, at her home in Sinclair Park, in Inverness, on August 2 in 2018.
It was alleged that he repeatedly struck her on the head with a knife to her severe injury, permanent disfigurement and to the danger of her life.
Millar lodged a special defence that he was suffering from a mental disorder at the time and the Crown accepted that he was not criminally responsible following expert reports.
He was also found to be unfit for trial.
Millar could pose ‘imminent risk of harm to the public’ if not detained
A judge at the High Court in Edinburgh heard that he has been diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia and an autistic spectrum disorder.
A consultant forensic psychiatrist from the State Hospital at Carstairs said Millar was “a man with quite complex difficulties who had committed a serious offence which potentially could have been fatal”.
Dr Sheila Howitt said Millar was currently receiving antipsychotic medication while in the South Lanarkshire institution.
Mother suffered two stab wounds to head
The psychiatrist said that she considered that if he were not detained in hospital he could pose an imminent risk of harm to the public.
The court heard that Millar’s mother fell asleep on a sofa in the living room but woke in the morning to find him striking her on the head twice with a knife.
The first offender left the house but returned before emergency services arrived and was arrested by police. His mother was taken to hospital for treatment for two stab wounds to her head.
Lady Scott said it was a “slightly unusual” case as Millar had no record of violent offending in his past.
The judge imposed compulsion and restriction orders on him detaining him at the State Hospital.
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