A homeless man charged with an assault on a woman and shouting abuse at her was remanded in custody yesterday while his fitness to plead is assessed.

Junior Ming, 51, has been in custody for 2½ weeks after he was accused of kicking Carlina Caines and shouting at her.

The incident is alleged to have happened on April 24 in Paget.

Simone Smith-Bean, for Mr Ming, said that time already spent in custody should be counted as his sentence.

Ms Smith-Bean also suggested that Mr Ming should be sent to the Mid Atlantic Wellness Institute psychiatric hospital.

But Maria Sofianos, for the Crown, said that time served was not enough and that Mr Ming should be given a “short, sharp, shock” jail term.

The case first came to court on May 1 and Mr Ming entered two guilty pleas.

Jonathan White, the duty counsel, said that his client had been given a mental assessment that found he was fit to be interviewed by police.

He added that he was concerned that his client was unfit to plead. The court ordered a fresh assessment by another psychiatrist.

Mr Ming was remanded in custody and the case was adjourned to May 9, when Mr Ming told the court that he did not know what guilty meant.

Senior magistrate Juan Wolffe questioned yesterday if Mr Ming’s constitutional rights would be violated by prolonged detention in custody.

Mr Wolffe asked: “What is more important? His constitutional right to be released from custody or for us to wait for four or five weeks for a mental assessment?”

Mr Ming did not enter a plea when asked by Mr Wolffe and the case was adjourned to Wednesday.

• It is The Royal Gazette’s policy not to allow comments on stories regarding court cases. As we are legally liable for any libellous or defamatory comments made on our website, this move is for our protection as well as that of our readers.