A homeless man suffering from mental illness due to head injuries sustained when he was assaulted eight years ago had his sentencing abruptly halted in Supreme Court Monday when Assistance Justice Charles-Etta Simmons determined he was not fit to plea.

Both Theodore Crayson Wolffe, 29, and co-accused Jahnia Antonio Thompson, 26, had pleaded guilty to a robbery committed on August 24, 2001.

The two men admitted stealing a handbag from a woman who was walking home late that night accompanied by another female friend on a cycle.

Crown Prosecutor Graveney Bannister told the court the victim reported that Thompson walked passed her on Happy Valley Road and said "good evening". He then grabbed her handbag but the victim struggled to hold on to it.

Eventually Thompson succeeded in making off with the bag but he was chased by the victim's friend on her cycle and brandished a weapon - which he claims was a stick - at his pursuer, Mr. Bannister said.

Minutes later Wolffe appeared on the scene on his cycle and kicked the woman, knocking her from her bike.

She sustained injuries to her shoulders and hips in the fall and Wolffe and Thompson fled west on Happy Valley Road with the bag which contained roughly $30, credit cards, a cell phone, keys and other miscellaneous items.

The following day, the hangbag owner received a call from a man claiming his daughter found her bag and attempting to arrange a meet to return it.

Subsequent calls led to an exchange in which the victim's handbag was returned less the cash it had originally held.

The caller was later discovered to be Wolffe, who turned himself into Police following the arrest of co-accused Thompson for the robbery.

Both men have been in prison on remand since that time but sentencing has been delayed as the court awaited a psychologist's report on Wolffe ordered nine months ago.

Wolffe had instructed his lawyer Kim Wilson that he wanted sentencing to go ahead irrespective of the report which has yet to be carried out by Westgate psychologist Dr. James Buccigross although it was ordered in March.

But after hearing mitigating arguments from Ms Wilson, Ms Justice Simmons halted the sentencing.

"I'm stopping this," she said after Ms Wilson explained Wolffe claims he had no knowledge Thompson intended to rob anyone and had only agreed to give him a ride and then wait for ten minutes that night.

Ms Justice Simmons said she would not continue with the sentencing.

"This is an equivocal plea and I should not accept it," she said. "I cannot allow that to happen. You cannot deny knowledge of the robbery and at the same time plead guilty."

Ms Justice Simmons ordered that a private psychological assessment be conducted on Wolffe, paid for from the legal aid fund, and presented to the court in time for the December arraignments session.

Before Ms Wilson's mitigating arguments were aborted, she said Wolffe has been diagnosed with mental illness which may be linked to a serious attack he sustained at the hands of three unknown men eight years ago.

Ms Wilson said Wolffe turned to drugs partially to deal with serious headaches he developed after the attack and soon became an addict.

She also referred to a psychiatric report prepared on Wolffe which suggested his actions may have been linked to mental illness and called for a psychological report.

Ms Justice Simmons had Wolffe removed from the courtroom after making her order and remanded him to prison before continuing with Thompson's sentencing.

Defence attorney Larry Mussenden told the court Thompson is suffering from a 16-year long addiction to heroin but has a deep desire to turn his life around.

Mr. Mussenden said Thompson has been speaking to other remand prisoners about his experiences in an effort to scare them from the path to drug addiction and crime.

He said Thompson admitted to the robbery and cooperated with Police but claims he never intended any violence toward the women and only pulled the stick from his trousers when threatened.

Mr. Mussenden asked that the court consider a short prison term for Thompson - two years, less time served - in combination with a probation order or suspended sentence which included a mandatory period of residential drug treatment.

And he read aloud a letter of apology from Thompson to his victim and the court.

"You didn't deserve to be treated that way and I am honestly sorry," he said. "Drugs make me do despicable things and I really want to get of them."

While Mr. Bannister had suggested a prison term of up to 14 years for the robbery as it involved violence, Ms Simmons sentenced Thompson to two years in prison and two years probation to include a six-month residential treatment programme.