Lawyers for a teenager accused of killing a fellow patient inside Canberra Hospital's adult mental health unit are set to explore an impairment defence if he is deemed fit to plead.
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Bonner man Aleu Mapiou has pleaded not guilty to a murder charge laid over the death of Dusko Culibrk, 38, in November 2022.
Mapiou is yet to enter pleas to two counts of preventing the carrying out of a forensic procedure.
Those charges allege he hindered a police officer and another person authorised to take hand and fingernail swabs following his arrest.
Mapiou, who was 18 at the time of his alleged crimes, was not required to appear when his case was mentioned in the ACT Magistrates Court on Tuesday.
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A Legal Aid lawyer, Sam Brown, asked the court to order an expert report about Mapiou's mental health.
Prosecutor Anthony Williamson SC said recent discussions with the head of Legal Aid ACT's criminal practice, Tamzin Lee, had led him to believe she wanted two issues to be canvassed.
Mr Williamson told the court these were whether Mapiou was fit to plead and, if so, whether a mental impairment defence would be available to him.
Magistrate Jane Campbell ordered the report as requested, and adjourned the matter until June 6.
Mapiou, who is now in the Dhulwa secure mental health unit, has been remanded in custody since he was arrested within minutes of the alleged murder.
The killing allegedly occurred around midnight on November 13, when Detective Superintendent Hall O'Meagher has said police were called to Canberra Hospital following reports of an altercation between two patients.
The detective, who is in charge of ACT Policing's criminal investigations, said officers arrived to find hospital staff "trying to revive and keep alive a 38-year-old man" in the adult mental health unit.
"Unfortunately, the efforts to keep the 38-year-old man alive were unsuccessful and he died at the scene," he told reporters at the time.
Detective Superintendent O'Meagher indicated police did not believe a weapon was involved in the incident.
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