An Ontario man accused in a stabbing aboard a Greyhound bus bound for Winnipeg on Sunday appeared in court Tuesday for a bail hearing in Sault Ste. Marie, Ont., looking somewhat dazed.

White River and Wawa are about 90 kilometres apart in northwestern Ontario. (CBC)David Wayne Roberts, 28, of Manitouwadge, Ont., who is charged with aggravated assault and two counts of breach of probation, wore an orange shirt and striped pants to his hearing. He remained silent throughout.

A publication ban was placed on all evidence to be heard at the bail hearing, scheduled for Wednesday, after his lawyer requested an adjournment.

The charges follow an incident where a 20-year-old man on the bus had to be hospitalized with minor injuries after he was stabbed Sunday afternoon on the bus.

Passengers on the Greyhound bus, which began its journey in Toronto, said the attack took place about two hours after police officers put a man on the bus in Wawa, Ont.

The man, who had earlier been arrested by the police for disturbing the peace, told Wawa police he needed psychiatric help, Wawa police Sgt. Larry Ross told CBC News.

After the police took him to a hospital, doctors there concluded the man would not be a risk to himself or anyone else, Ross said. As a result, police bought him a ticket to his home in northern Ontario and put him on the bus in Wawa.

"The subject had no transportation and a strong desire to go home, and the Wawa police addressed this need by obtaining a bus ticket via social assistance, which is a normal function for this police service for people who … find themselves transplanted with a lack of money or for whatever reason," Ross said.

One of the passengers on the bus, Anita Daher, told CBC News that she saw the police put a man on the bus, then a couple of hours later heard a commotion from the back of the bus and saw a man clutching his bleeding chest in pain. She did not witness the stabbing, she said.

As she dialed 911 shortly after, Daher said, the man who had joined the bus in Wawa demanded to be let off.

Police arrested the man near White River, a town about 300 kilometres north of Sault Ste. Marie, shortly after he left the bus.

Situation familiar to Winnipeg man

Meanwhile, a Winnipeg man says the Ontario case suggests that nothing has changed since his mother was killed on a bus eight years ago.

Ross Lent's 74-year-old mother, Mary-Louise, died and 30 others were injured in December 2000 when a man placed on a Thunder Bay-bound bus by Ontario Provincial Police attacked the driver and drove the bus over an embankment.

'It seems like it's all been swept under the rug.'—Ross Lent

The 23-year-old suspect in that case was ultimately found not criminally responsible.

A coroner's inquest at the time recommended major changes to safety on Greyhound buses. But Lent says it's clear nothing's changed: "It seems like it's all been swept under the rug."

Lent says something has to change when it comes to transporting the mentally ill or suspects on buses.

"If they're deemed to be dangerous, they should be escorted on these buses and the money should be taken to do that," he said.

"Also, Greyhound needs to beef up their security, as well. If that means adding security guards to buses, if that means metal detectors, so be it."

'Companies need to take responsibility'

Lent hopes the family of Tim McLean, who was killed on a Greyhound in Manitoba this summer, goes through with a civil lawsuit they've launched against Greyhound, the federal government and the suspect in the case.

The bus remained parked beside a restaurant in White River while police interviewed passengers. (Marcus Grundt/Wawa News)"Sue, sue, sue. And go through with it, because the courts didn't work for us," he said, arguing that appears to be the only way to ensure changes take place.

"These companies need to take responsibility for public safety. That's part of their job."

Peter St. John, a security expert at the University of Manitoba, agrees.

"[The bus] is a place where it is easier for people with mental problems to travel," he said. "These people can get on buses without any checks and without any knowledge of what their condition is."

St. John acknowledges that the people staffing small bus depots won't ever know if someone is mentally ill.

But he says Greyhound and the police must do a better of job of making sure no one has a weapon when they get on a bus.

With files from the Canadian Press