Kenneth Scott Barter seen here in this 2011 photo.
Image Credit: Global Okanagan (with permission)
March 11, 2023 - 6:00 AM
A Vernon man who spent several years in a psychiatric hospital after he killed and dismembered a friend is due in court next months to stand trial for assault.
Kenneth Scott Barter was charged with assault and assault with a weapon following an incident that's alleged to have taken place in Coldstream last summer.
It's unclear who the two victims are that Barter allegedly assaulted, but court documents show that they may be his parents.
The 50-year-old made headlines in 2011 when he was found not criminally responsible for the death of his friend Nathan Mayrhofer.
Suffering from psychosis, Barter hit Mayrhofer with a hammer one morning after the two friends had been out drinking together.
He then cut up the body and put it in plastic bags and put them in the fridge and freezer.
The following day he confessed to his parents what he had done.
His father, a retired police officer, called RCMP and drove his son to the psychiatric ward at the Vernon hospital.
At the time he had no history of violence.
He was charged in relation to the death but then found not criminally responsible.
Barter spent four years in a psychiatric hospital before being released into the community under strict conditions.
He received an annual psychiatric review each year and in 2018 argued he should be granted an absolute discharge and allowed in the community without conditions.
However, the British Columbia Review Board refused his application and kept him under supervision.
At the time, the Review Board said he was a "significant threat to public safety" and had "continuing inflexibility, rigid thinking, and sense of entitlement."
However, in 2019 he was granted an absolute discharge, meaning there were no conditions on his release.
The Review Board's move angered Mayrhofer's sister, who argued that the legal system needed to be changed to allow for medication supervision and checkups for violent offenders with mental health problems.
The circumstances surrounding Barter's latest charges aren't yet known, but court records show he's not being held in custody.
To contact a reporter for this story, email Ben Bulmer or call (250) 309-5230 or email the editor. You can also submit photos, videos or news tips to the newsroom and be entered to win a monthly prize draw.
We welcome your comments and opinions on our stories but play nice. We won't censor or delete comments unless they contain off-topic statements or links, unnecessary vulgarity, false facts, spam or obviously fake profiles. If you have any concerns about what you see in comments, email the editor in the link above.
News from © iNFOnews, 2023