Man admits scissor attack on passenger during Cook Strait crossing STAFF REPORTER

Passengers on an otherwise standard ferry trip across Cook Strait were alarmed to see a man suddenly lunge at another passenger and stab him with a pair of scissors.

A 23-year-old man was remanded for a further psychiatric report in the Nelson District Court on reckless disregard, after the incident on board an Interislander ferry on February 8 this year. It happened just weeks after an Interislander ferry issued a mayday after it lost power and was left drifting with 800 passengers on board before dropping its anchors off Wellington’s South Coast.

The man, who has name suppres-

Picton.

At about 4.20pm he and the victim were in the lounge area of the ferry when the defendant walked towards the victim with scissors in his hand.

The police summary of facts said he then began to “rapidly ad vance” on the victim from behind with scissors in his hand and stabbed him in his left side. The defendant swung the scissors twice more but missed. In expla nation, the defendant told police he had “wanted to harm the victim with scissors”.

Defence lawyer Mark Dollimore told the court on Monday that psychiatric reports already com who appeared in court on Monday via video link from a mental health facility, had made “major progress”.

Judge David Ruth remanded the man in the care of the facility un