Loay Abdelrahnan, 19, was found fit to stand trial on Thursday. (CBC)

A 19-year-old man accused breaking into his next-door neighbour's apartment in Halifax, confining, choking and sexual assaulting her, has been found mentally fit to stand trial.

Search warrants indicate that on Oct. 3, Loay Abdelrahnan knocked on his neighbour's door, then pulled down his pants to expose himself and forced his way into the apartment.

The documents detail a vicious sexual attack. It's alleged that Abdelrahnan pushed the woman to the ground, punched her in the eye, grabbed her breasts and tried to remove her shirt.

He then allegedly choked her and smashed a coffee pot over her head.

The woman told police she fended him off by picking up a piece of the broken coffee pot and may have cut him in the stomach.

"The victim in this particular matter overcame her attacker. Very brave and courageous individual to do that," said Crown attorney Rick Woodburn.

Abdelrahnan took off, leaving a trail of blood that rattled neighbours like Aaron Martyn.

"There were a few smears throughout the wall and going down the stairwell. Scattered throughout the stairwell, blood smears on the wall," he said.

'Uncharacteristic behaviour'

The search documents said the building manager entered Abdelrahnan's apartment and found a laptop playing a pornographic video of a man sexually attacking a woman.

Police suggest Abdelrahnan was motivated by the video to commit the assault.

Abdelrahnan's lawyer, Gordon Allen, said the video proves nothing.

"We don't know if he really was watching that or not. And if he did, if that had a role or not. At this point, it's just speculation,' Allen said.

He said his client has no criminal record and friends said he began acting strangely recently.

"Uncharacteristic behaviour: shaved his head, shaved his eyebrows. Different sorts of things for someone who was a happy-go-lucky young man," Allen said.

Now that he's been found mentally fit to stand trial, Abdelrahnan will be moved from the East Coast Forensic Hospital to a jail.

He'll be back in court next week.