Dakota Hart deemed fit for trial in Earl Kitchener charges
A man charged with abducting a west Hamilton elementary school student has been deemed mentally fit to stand trial.
A psychiatric assessment this week shows Dakota Hart, 47, is able to face trial, a Hamilton court heard on Wednesday.
Hart remains in custody amid charges he lured a young boy at Earl Kitchener Public School from the playground. An adult intervened and the boy was shaken but unharmed.
Hart is charged with assault with a weapon, forcibly seizing a person and two counts of breach of probation in relation to the Oct. 23 incident.
He also faces additional charges of assault and two counts of breach of probation stemming from a separate incident on Sept. 10.
Hart is in the midst of a series of proceedings to see if he’ll be released on bail. The hearings are under a publication ban. He’ll appear again in bail court on Nov. 14.
Hart appeared in court unshaven, wearing shackles, an orange shirt and black pants. He remained standing and had a pair of reading glasses atop his head. He asked to speak to the court but was denied.
Geoffrey Read was going to act as Hart’s lawyer, but deferred the case to Andrew Confente.
Confente said outside the courtroom later that he has dealt with a number of cases involving mental health issues.
Hart was first in custody after being arrested under the Mental Health Act on a separate matter, police say.
The school board has since enacted a number of rules to ensure a similar incident to the one at Earl Kitchener doesn’t happen again.
With files from Adam Carter