The head of the psychiatric unit at the Shepody Healing Centre at Dorchester Penitentiary told a Fredericton court Wednesday that Gregory Allan Despres is mentally fit to stand trial, in contrast to another psychiatrist's testimony a day earlier.

Despres, 24, is charged with two counts of first-degree murder in the deaths of Fred Fulton and Verna Decarie, an elderly couple who were slain in their home in Minto in 2005. His double-murder trial was stalled in February when the judge requested a third psychiatric assessment be conducted on Despres after an in-court outburst.

On Tuesday, Dr. Peter Scott Theriault, the psychiatrist who did the third assessment of Despres' mental state, told court that he had diagnosed Despres as having paranoid schizophrenia. He deemed Despres unable to follow court proceedings and therefore unfit to stand trial.

That opinion was contradicted when Dr. Louis Theriault, the head of the Dorchester psychiatric unit, testified Wednesday at the hearing to determine whether Despres is fit to stand trial.

Louis Theriault told Court of Queen's Bench he had also diagnosed Despres with paranoid schizophrenia in a psychiatric assessment that ended in March 2006.

He said he initially also determined that Despres was not fit to stand trial, but changed his conclusion within a two-week time frame.

Theriault said that during his 60-day assessment of Despres, he observed signs of improvement and a manipulative side — one that he said showed Despres has an understanding of how systems work and how to get things from people.

Mood changed

He noted that when a person has a legitimately overwhelming hallucination, their delusions don't change dramatically.

In contrast, Theriault told the court, Despres initially accused Theriault of working for al-Qaeda, then of being a Jewish operative, and then of being black.

Despres also acted differently with different members of the psychiatric staff of the unit, appearing hostile with some and calm and co-operative with others, Theriault testified.

The behaviour wasn't consistent, he noted.

The hearing into Despres' mental state was to wrap up Wednesday without hearing from Dr. Moses Alataishe, the first psychiatrist who did an assessment of the accused in 2005 and found him fit to stand trial. Alataishe was present, but not called to the stand. 

Judge Judy Clendenning is expected to give her decision at 3 p.m. AT Friday.

If Despres is found to be mentally unfit, the trial will be halted and he will be sent for further psychiatric care.