The man charged in the vicious assault of an Edmonton Transit driver is one step closer to being declared a dangerous offender.
Provincial court judge Harry Bridges this morning ordered Garry Edwin Mattson held over for a battery of psychiatric and psychological assessments to help determine whether he should be declared a dangerous offender. The status would see him incarcerated almost indefinitely.
Mattson displayed persistent, “senselessly aggressive” behaviour, said Bridges, adding there was a reasonable possibility he could be declared a dangerous offender.
Mattson pleaded guilty earlier this year to an attack on 59-year-old Edmonton Transit bus driver and St. Albert resident Tom Bregg.
Security video footage of the beating, shown in court earlier this month, showed Mattson arguing with Bregg, apparently over a fare dispute, before the driver demanded he leave the bus.
Mattson then punched Bregg, landing three successive blows on the driver before dragging him from the bus and repeatedly stomping on his face.
Bregg spent 16 days in intensive care recovering from the attack, as well as several more weeks in hospital and at the Glenrose Rehabilitation Centre.
