Randall Hopley is mentally fit to stand trial for abducting three-year-old Sparwood resident Kienan Hebert last September.

Appearing in Cranbrook Provincial Court via video link Nov. 9, from the Kamloops Regional Correctional Centre, Hopley, 46, learned from Judge Grant Sheard that he will stand trial for breaking and entering with intent to commit an indictable offence, kidnapping and abduction of a person under the age of 14.

Hopley has spent the last two months undergoing a court-ordered, mental-health assessment at the Forensic Psychiatric Hospital in Port Coquitlam to gauge whether he may be considered not criminally responsible or whether he is competent to face trial.

The exact contents of the psychiatric assessment were not divulged as Sheard set a Dec. 19 bail hearing.

However, Hopley’s lawyer William Thorne said after the hearing, “I fully expect he will be detained.” Thorne said his client understands the charges against him and he will not employ a ‘not criminally responsible due to mental illness’ defence in the case.

At Hopley’s second court appearance at the B.C. provincial court in Cranbrook, B.C., his lawyer William Thorne, said Hopley’s mental fitness will not be an issue in this case and Hopley understands the charges against him.

Thorne said he will not use a defence of not criminally responsible due to mental disorder in the case.

Above photo: Randall Hopley is removed from the Cranbrook Courthouse following his first court appearance back in September.

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