A man who bashed a Canberra grandfather to death has pleaded not guilty by reason of mental impairment to a serious assault that happened in the weeks before the New Year's Day killing.
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Danny Klobucar, 27, went on trial in the ACT Supreme Court earlier this year over the brutal killing of Phillip's Miodrag Gajic, 71, several days after he tried to buy cannabis from the older man in 2014.
In March, he was found not guilty of murder due to mental impairment.
A jury found Klobucar was the killer, but agreed with psychiatric evidence that he was suffering from paranoid schizophrenia at the time and did not properly understand his actions were wrong.
That verdict meant Klobucar would be held in a secure facility for a length of time decided by the ACT Civil and Administrative Tribunal, and reviewed monthly until he was no longer deemed a threat to himself or the community.
It also required Justice Hilary Penfold to give an estimate of the sentence she would have handed Klobucar had he been found guilty of murder.
Her estimate of a 20-year jail sentence, backdated to include time already spent in custody, would be used as a guide for the tribunal in deciding how long Klobucar would be held.
Klobucar's case returned to the Supreme Court last month after Justice Penfold found he was technically still on remand for other serious charges, unrelated to the killing, including an assault.
Prosecutors had argued Klobucar should be returned to the Alexander Maconochie Centre until those charges were resolved, a move his defence team resisted.
Defence barrister John Purnell, SC, wanted the charges dropped or for Klobucar to be granted bail to reside at the secure mental health facility where he has been held.
Details contained in a psychiatrist's report aired during that bail application have since been suppressed by the court.
Klobucar appeared in court again on Monday when he was arraigned on the outstanding offences, including intentionally inflicting grievous bodily harm linked to the assault on a man in early December 2013.
He also faced charges of trespassing with intent to cause harm and two counts of possessing a prohibited weapon stemming from a disturbance at Lighthouse bar in Belconnen the night of Mr Gajic's killing.
Klobucar entered pleas of not guilty by reason of mental impairment to each of the four charges.
Two other remaining charges of affray and indecent exposure, also linked to the incident at the Belconnen pub, were dropped after the court heard prosecutors would not pursue them.
Justice Penfold said she was satisfied, on the basis of evidence heard at trial, that Klobucar was labouring under mental impairment that day.
The court heard the Crown, represented by Mark Fernandez, was willing to accept the pleas of not guilty by way of mental impairment for the charges of grievous bodily harm and trespass.
But Mr Fernandez said the prosecution would contest the pleas on the weapons charges on grounds those offences could not be explained by Klobucar's mental impairment.
Those matters, as well as a review of Klobucar's bail, will return to court before Justice Penfold next month.
