Lawyers for a mainland-born man accused of shooting dead two Hong Kong students and injuring five other people on a university campus in Melbourne, Australia, last year are expected to question the mental fitness of their client to stand trial.
Privately, they say the mental state of Xiang Huan Yun, 36, may prevent the case from ever coming to trial.
Xiang appeared in a Melbourne court via videolink yesterday from a ward for the mentally ill in the city's Thomas Embling Hospital.
He has been charged with two murders and the attempted murder of five others after he allegedly opened fire in a classroom at Monash University last October.
The two dead students were William Wu Xu-hui, 26, and Steven Chang, 26, both originally from Hong Kong.
Xiang, who has lived in Australia for seven years and was studying economics at Monash, wore a black suit during his court appearance. He spoke only to acknowledge that he could hear the proceedings.