Second-degree murder charge to proceed against Mohamed Issak

A murder charge will proceed in the Nova Scotia courts against a man who's been found not criminally responsible for previous acts of violence. 

Mohamed Issak, 32, was charged with second-degree murder in December.

The charge stems from an assault at the East Coast Forensic Hospital, Nova Scotia's only secure psychiatric facility, last May.

Both Issak and the victim of the assault, Allen Nickerson, were patients at the hospital. Nickerson had been admitted after being found not criminally responsible in the killing of his mother, Margaret Nickerson, in 1994.

Issak became a patient after being found not criminally responsible on charges of assault with a weapon and breach of probation from an incident in 2016.

Issak was initially charged with aggravated assault for the incident involving Nickerson.

But when the older man died of his injuries, and the medical examiner ruled the death a homicide, the charge was upgraded to murder.

The Crown has preferred an indictment, meaning there will be no preliminary inquiry.

The case was in two courtrooms this week.

In Nova Scotia Supreme Court on Thursday, lawyers agreed to meet with a judge in May to discuss the case.

The matter will then return to open court on May 22 to determine where it goes next.

Issak is also facing a charge of assaulting a peace officer. That matter will return to Dartmouth provincial court on April 17.

Issak remains in custody in the meantime.