By Dan Laxer
The Suburban

Sergio Yanes Perciado appeared in court for the second time in two days, on Wednesday. The man who is accused of beating a Hassidic Jewish man in front of his three young daughters in Parc Extension last week, faced a charge of assault causing bodily harm.

His appearance at the Palais de Justice in courtroom 3.07 was by video link where Quebec Court Judge Martin Chalifour ordered him remanded to the Philippe-Pinel Institute for Forensic Psychiatry for a 30-day period.

He is due to appear in court again on September 12.

The accused was ordered to undergo a psychiatric assessment on Tuesday. However Judge Chalifour decided a full psychiatric evaluation was in order.

The victim’s brother-in-law, Zev Feldman, was also in court with several members of the victim’s friends, extended family, and community members. Feldman says they are satisfied with the ruling because it keeps the accused behind bars, and away from the victim and his family for now. “We hope that the judge will keep on sending messages that this is unacceptable.”

The psychiatric assessment is to see if Yanes Perciado is fit to stand trial. “He was fit enough to go to school, he was fit enough to be a soccer player, he should be fit enough,” Feldman said. “He was fit enough to attack a father in front of his three kids. He should be fit enough to stand trial.”

The family is not happy that, so far, there was no mention of the incident being deemed a hate crime, but they are still hoping the crown will upgrade the charges.

As is now well-known, Yanes Perciado attacked the victim in Dickie Moore Park in the Villeray-Saint-Michel-Parc-Extension borough. Police say he first threw water on the victim, and then pushed him to the ground, punched him several times, and kneed him, leaving him badly bruised with a broken nose.

His three daughters cried as they witnessed their father being beaten.

In a viral video of the incident, the attacker is then seen tossing what is believed to be the victim’s kippah into the water of a splash pad.

The victim’s name is still being kept private. In fact, Feldman refers to his brother-in-law as “the victim.” He is said to be doing better, physically, although emotionally he is still not himself.

The victim’s daughters are also said to be recovering. “But everybody can imagine what happens when a child sees it,” Feldman adds. “It’s going to take time.” n