WESTERN BUREAU — Athol Edwards, the homeless man who is accused of viciously attacking and setting another street person afire last month in Montego Bay, is to undergo psychiatric evaluation in time for his next court date, which has been set for April 17.

He is also expected to be assigned a lawyer, through Legal Aid, in time for that date.

Edwards, 30, who has been charged with assault occasioning grievous bodily harm, was reportedly at the state-run City Spirit Foundation for the mentally ill and homeless in Montego Bay on March 16 when he attacked the complainant, Anthony Brown, 37, and set him ablaze.

Brown was taken to the Cornwall Regional Hospital where he was admitted in serious condition because of the second-degree burns he incurred to the chest and abdomen.

Up to Monday he was still in hospital.

The fiery attack on the 37 year-old man was the latest in a number of similar attacks on the homeless in the western city.

In February Elvin Irving, Donovan Mitchell and Michael Morales also received burns to their bodies after they were set on fire in Montego Bay’s historic Sam Sharpe Square. To date, the police have not located the alleged perpetrator who is known only as “Ragga”.