Nicholas Bain is one of five people accused of conspiring to kill Sylvio Saulnier in 2019. (Submitted/RCMP – image credit)
A man accused of plotting to kill the son of Dieppe double-homicide victims will undergo a 30-day psychiatric evaluation to determine if he’s fit to stand trial.
Nicholas Daniel Bain, 30, appeared in Moncton provincial court by video Monday morning.
Crown prosecutor Patrick Wilbur asked for Bain to be sent to the Restigouche Hospital Centre in Campbellton. Wilbur said an initial five-day assessment suggests he may not be fit, but that there are “concerns” the Crown hopes a longer assessment can address.
Judge Troy Sweet ordered the assessment. Bain is set to return to court March 30.
Bain, who doesn’t have a lawyer, said nothing and only held up a yellow folder with writing on it in front of the camera.
He previously asked for the case to be held in French and translated to traditional Chinese.
Bain, Janson Bryan Baker, Jesse Todd Logue, Monique Alicia Boyer and Christopher Allen Lennon are jointly charged with conspiring to kill Sylvio Saulnier between Aug. 29, 2019, and Sept. 30, 2019.
Sylvio Saulnier was the son of 78-year-old Bernard Saulnier and 74-year-old Rose-Marie Saulnier. They were found dead in their Dieppe home on Sept. 7, 2019.
Baker has been on trial since January on two counts of first-degree murder alleging he killed the couple.
Baker’s trial heard Sylvio Saulnier was part of a drug trafficking group led by Logue.
A series of police raids on Aug. 28, 2019, the trial heard, led to Logue believing Sylvio Saulnier had stolen money from the group and was a police informant.
Prosecutors in the murder case allege Bain directed Baker to find and kill Sylvio Saulnier, who lived with his parents. Instead, the Crown alleges Baker broke into the couple’s Dieppe home, corralled them in a bedroom and shot them.
As Bain appeared in court Monday, the jury in Baker’s trial continued to deliberate elsewhere in the courthouse.
An officer testified during Baker’s trial that Sylvio Saulnier died by suicide in 2023.
All five in the conspiracy case remain in custody. While Bain is set to return to court for the results of his assessment on March 30, the other four are scheduled to appear again April 15.
