Judge Orders 20-Year Psychiatric Commitment In Shelton Stabbing Case

A judge on Wednesday ordered a Shelton man who stabbed his sister in the throat more than two years ago confined to a psychiatric hospital for up to 20 years.

In July, Toai Nguyen, 39, had been tried before Judge Richard Arnold at Superior Court in Milford on a charge of attempted murder in connection with the Oct. 5, 2010 attack insider his Maple Street apartment.

The sister fought off Nguyen and ran out of the apartment but was seriously injured.

At Nguyen’s trial, police officers said when they arrived on scene, Nguyen’s sister was on the porch outside the apartment, with a 7‑inch wound on her throat, and stab wounds on her head and arms. Her left ring finger had almost been sliced off her hand.

The woman and the apartment were covered in blood, officers said.

After the trial Judge Arnold found Nguyen not guilty by reason of mental disease and ordered him sent for an evaluation at Whiting Forensic Institute, a maximum-security psychiatric facility in Middletown.

An evidentiary hearing was then held this month, where a doctor who examined Nguyen testified about his mental condition.

Nguyen has a well-documented history of paranoid schizophrenia, a mental illness that causes Nguyen to hear voices, and believe people are trying to hurt him — particularly his family, according to Dr. Peter M. Zeman, a psychiatrist at the Institute of Living in Hartford. 

In June, Zeman testified at Nguyen’s trial that he has evaluated Nguyen four times since 2009.

The first two evaluations were for a court case where Nguyen was accused of severely beating his father with The Club, a vehicle anti-theft device, while his father was driving him to the hospital during a psychotic episode.

Zeman said Nguyen was actively psychotic, suffering from a severe psychiatric illness” when he attacked his sister. Furthermore, Zemen said during the attack Nguyen lacked the ability to comprehend what he was doing was wrong.

In court Wednesday, Judge Arnold said he considered Nguyen’s condition, the violent act for which he was brought to trial, and the fact that Nguyen’s symptoms can be lessened by appropriate medication and treatment.”

But the judge said he also considered that if Nguyen stopped taking medication and became noncompliant with treatment, he may suffer further manic episodes of violence, creating a risk of safety to others and to himself.”

At Nguyen’s trial in June, Zeman referenced several times Nguyen was admitted to hospital psychiatric wards, where intake reports indicated Nguyen believed his family was out to harm him. He believed his brother wanted to castrate him, and that his father was trying to hurt him, according to the reports.

Each time he was released with a prescription for anti-psychotic medicine for schizophrenia. But he would inevitably stop taking the medication, the reports indicated.

While some diagnosed schizophrenics can function without their medication for a period of time, Zeman said that was not the case with Nguyen.

In Mr. Nguyen’s case, invariably, within two to three weeks he becomes ill … and presents a risk to himself and other people,” Zeman testified.

Therefore, Judge Arnold ruled Wednesday, Nguyen will be committed to maximum security confinement at Whiting for up to 20 years.

He presently constitutes a danger to himself and others,” Judge Arnold said.

Neither Nguyen’s lawyer nor prosecutors made any remarks during Wednesday’s four-minute hearing. Afterward Nguyen shot an inquisitive look at the courtroom’s public gallery before he was led into lockup.

Under state law, Connecticut’s Psychiatric Security Review Board must hold a hearing within 90 days to review Nguyen’s status, Judge Arnold said.

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