A judge has recommended that a woman accused of stabbing a police officer at Atlantic Place in St. John’s receive a psychiatric assessment.

The accused, 51-year-old Irene Hutchings was arrested last week following an altercation with another person at the building, during which an intervening police officer was stabbed.

At a bail hearing today it was announced that Hutchings has agreed to remand for the next three weeks during which time a lawyer will be secured for her.

Before the judge could wrap up proceedings, Nicole Wolfe, Hutchings’ daughter, spoke up to make a plea for her mother to receive help for mental health issues, something that the family has been very vocal about in the week since the incident.

Hutchings appeared via videoconference for the hearing and could be heard yelling out to people and mumbling to herself, seemingly oblivious to the proceedings. However, there were technical issues with the equipment beforehand and it is unclear if that played a factor.

With this in mind, the judge noted that it does appear that Hutchings is struggling and though she cannot order one, did recommend a psychiatric evaluation.

The matter will be back in court on September 26.

Wolfe says the judge’s decision is “better than nothing,” noting she has been advocating for her mother to be sent to the Waterford.

She says Hutchings needs more than to just spend a couple of hours with someone—she needs to be assessed for weeks or even a month.

As for whether or not she thinks her mom should get bail, Wolfe doesn’t think she’s ready for that.

She doesn’t think her mom is ready to go back out into society. She says she’d be failing Hutchings by bailing her out.