‘High-risk’ offender accused of assault following Oak River attack

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This article was published 11/01/2013 (4864 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

A “high-risk offender” who once stabbed a pregnant woman in the neck is back in trouble with the law.

He’s in custody in connection with bizarre allegations that a man — who claimed to be Gloria Vanderbilt — assaulted his mother at her Oak River home.

Following the attack, the mother told authorities that her son needs help.

“She believed that her son was in significant need of psychiatric care,” Crown attorney Ron Toews told Brandon court on Monday as he outlined the following allegations.

On Dec. 16, Hamiota RCMP received a report that a woman had been assaulted by her son.

She said her 34-year-old son had grown angry after entering the Oak River home of his parents around 10:30 p.m.

“You da man, you da man,” the son told his mother as she retreated to another room.

When the mother returned to grab her cellphone, her son took it away and cut his mom’s wrist in the process.

He then told her that his name was Gloria Vanderbilt and that he and the Hells Angels now owned the house.

Vanderbilt is an American socialite, actress, designer and artist.

The man then kicked his mother in the leg, pulled her hair and slammed her head into a wall.

He told her that he was “the girl” and she “da man” and groped at her in an apparent bid to determine her gender.

The mother eventually managed to flee the home and called RCMP, who then arrested the son.

Police were also told that, sometime around Dec. 1, the son had threatened his parents’ lives and remarked that he was thinking of ways to kill them.

He said he wasn’t a male but a girl and at various points had referred to himself as Gloria Vanderbilt. Following his arrest, he’d also told police that he was not only Vanderbilt, but Christina Aguilera and Britney Spears.

The above allegations haven’t been proven in court.

Kirk Dean Darroch is charged with assault and two counts of uttering threats.

Toews described Darroch as a “national high-risk offender.”

Darroch, who appeared in custody, agreed to undergo a forensic assessment (a psychiatric evaluation).

The evaluation will determine whether he could be held criminally responsible for the allegations and whether he’s fit to stand trial.

Darroch will remain in custody until his next court date on Feb. 11.

Toews cited public safety as he requested the evaluation which he said is needed before any possible bail hearing.

The Brandon Sun has detailed Darroch’s violent history in past articles.

In July 2003, Darroch — high on prescription pills and crystal meth — stabbed a pregnant woman twice in the neck with a hunting knife. The woman was a stranger to Darroch who attacked her as she walked downtown along Ninth Street.

When he was arrested several hours later, Darroch was found with a backpack that contained sunglasses, rope, a wet T-shirt, a towel and a condom. Police referred to the collection as a “rape kit.”

Darroch served a full five-year prison term for aggravated assault.

He didn’t get parole because he was a high risk to reoffend and wouldn’t take part in psychological counselling, assessment or treatment.

Shortly after his release from prison, Darroch attacked a member of the Manitoba High Risk Sex Offender Unit who was sent to check on him.

In June 2009, Darroch was sentenced to two months in jail for assaulting a peace officer and placed on two years probation.

» ihitchen@brandonsun.com