A former teacher accused of stabbing a principal at Keysborough Secondary College may require involuntary mental health treatment, a defence lawyer has told court.
Kim Ramchen, 37, of Mulgrave, appeared via a remand centre video link at Dandenong Magistrates’ Court on 3 February.
He faces charges including reckless conduct endangering serious injury and intentionally causing injury over his alleged attack on principal Aaron Sykes on 2 December.
Defence lawyer Ruth Parker sought an adjournment to start gathering psychiatric assessments on Ramchen.
She foreshadowed that a bail application may follow for Ramchen’s release into involuntary psychiatric treatment.
While he was in remand, he was unable to access involuntary treatment in the public mental health system, Ms Parker told the court.
The reports would also look at the issue of whether he was an unacceptable risk.
She said Ramchen didn’t immediately come to the attention of Monash Health’s Crisis and Assessment Treatment Team (CATT) when taken to hospital under police guard.
“My difficulty is my client has been in custody for some time.”
Magistrate Meagan Keogh granted the adjournment.
She also varied a personal safety intervention order against Ramchen barring him from being within 10 metres of his alleged victim and within 200 metres of Keysborough Secondary College’s two campuses.
In December, Ramchen was refused bail by Dandenong magistrate Andrew Waters, who noted a lack of psychological material to support the alleged mental health issues or detail his level of risk.
His risk of reoffending was “simply unknown”, and if involving a knife, it could easily result in injury and death, Mr Waters said at the time.
During the bail hearing, police told the court that Ramchen armed himself with a kitchen knife before entering Sykes’s office about 3pm on 2 December. He had recently been told that his contract at the school would not be renewed.
Ramchen kneeled on top of Sykes and held a knife to the principal’s throat before assistant principal Matthew Sloan dragged Ramchen away, police remand officer Leading Senior Constable Chris Marlowe told the court.
While the school was placed in lockdown, Ramchen returned and allegedly wielded a larger knife near Sykes’ face, the court heard.
Sloan, and several other staff, allegedly disarmed and pinned Ramchen to the ground.
Sykes was hospitalised with multiple stab wounds, including to his forearm. The injuries weren’t deemed serious, police said.
Leading Sen Const Marlowe told the court Ramchen was arrested and taken to Dandenong Hospital with minor injuries.
He later told a police interview that he got “enraged” and “mentally snapped” when Sykes dismissed him, and that he wanted to “completely incapacitate the principal”.
“I’ve never been so angry in my life,” Ramchen allegedly said – adding that he’d got “incredibly violent”, was unable to control his emotions and it was fortunate that other staff stopped his attacks.
The case was adjourned until 15 April at Dandenong Magistrates’ Court.
