A St. Brendan's Hospital escapee who allegedly sexually assaulted a woman at Devonshire Bay last year was deemed unfit for trial by a Supreme Court jury yesterday.

Within an hour, the jurors unanimously voted that the 31-year-old man was so mentally ill he was incapable of understanding the charges against him or following court proceedings.

The attack sparked a controversy at the hospital when a psychiatric nurse publicly blamed underqualified staff and hospital policies of de-institutionalisation for putting the public at risk.

Yesterday consultant psychiatrist, Dr. Sarath Anandagoda, who treated the accused over a period of six years, testified the man was unfit to stand trial.

He said violent patients were held at the highly secured Adams Ward until their symptoms receded with treatment. At that point they were transferred to another ward.

The accused was such a case, he said.

And although the courts had ordered the man be detained at St. Brendan's following a brutal attack on his mother five years ago, the order did not specify he should be kept in a high security ward.

Dr. Anandagoda, in response to questioning by defence lawyer Mr. Mark Pettingill, described how the defendant constantly complained of voices emanating from a radio and television implanted in his head.

The man frequently talked of taking his life and on one occasion slashed the arteries inside his elbows with a plastic knife.

Following September's assault, the accused admitted he knew he had done something wrong but claimed he was "helping'' his victim, Dr. Anandagoda said.

He added the man, who has been held in the Adams Ward since the attack, was not insane at the time of the offence.

However, it was unlikely the defendant was capable of understanding a plea, of giving rational instructions to his attorney or following court proceedings in a rational sense, Dr. Anandagoda said.

Before returning its verdict, the jury asked Chief Justice the Hon. Mr.

Justice Ward how the defendant would be dealt with if found unfit for trial.

The Chief Justice answered that his powers over the matter were limited.

Instead, he said, the matter was for the Governor and the Minister of Social Services to decide.

"The only order that I can make is that he be kept in strict custody in such place and such manner as I think fit until the pleasure of the Governor is known,'' he told them.

Apparently satisfied with his answer, the jury returned shortly after to deliver the verdict.

Crown Counsel Mr. Brian Calhoun requested the man be detained in a high security ward in St. Brendan's until a decision is made.

He also asked that if the defendant is deemed fit to stand trial at any time in the future he be brought before the courts.

Mr. Justice Ward agreed and ordered the accused be kept in the Adams Ward until a decision is reached by the Governor on the matter.

It was possible, he told the accused, he would be sent abroad to a high security psychiatric detention centre because such facilities do not exist on the Island.