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The man accused of stabbing three young children with a carving knife has been remanded in custody for psychiatric assessments to determine whether he is fit to stand trial.
He was remanded until March 5 when he made a second appearance before Judge Geoffrey Ellis at Lower
Hutt District Court this afternoon.
The 30-year-old man, whose name is suppressd, is accused of assault.
He wore a white police-issue boiler suit and stood impassively in the court.
At the first hearing Judge Ellis asked him if he knew what was happening to him.
"Na, I don't understand sir," he responded.
Judge Ellis said his lawyer would explain for him.
The accused will reappear this afternoon.
A seven-week-old baby boy, and his sisters, aged 18 months and three years, underwent emergency operations at Wellington Hospital after being stabbed with a carving knife.
A man had to be subdued with a Taser gun after police smashed their way into the Naenae house.
At 4.30pm yesterday police officers attended a 111 call at the Wilkie Crescent house, after the children's mother called police from another address.
The baby was found in one room, while the other two were in a second bedroom, along with the man who was still holding the knife.
The mother accompanied her children to hospital.
- NZPA