By Heather McNeill and Rebecca Peppiatt
A teenager has faced court charged with murder over the stabbing death of an elderly man on Monday morning which plunged the Perth suburb of Greenwood into lockdown as police searched for the alleged killer.
Pasifique Zawadi Niyonyishi, 19, appeared briefly in Joondalup Magistrates Court on Tuesday charged with the murder of 81-year-old Colin Norton and the attempted murder of his 75-year-old wife, Margaret.
Thousands of residents were ordered to stay indoors on Monday morning after police found Norton dead inside his Mattison Way home, his wife seriously injured, and the couple’s dog also suffering multiple stab wounds.
About an hour and a half later, Niyonyishi was arrested on the street in the neighbouring suburb of Kingsley.
Niyonyishi represented himself in front of a magistrate on Tuesday wearing a forensics jumpsuit as the charges were read to him.
He acknowledged that he understood what those charges were. No family members appeared in the gallery in support, and he spoke only to ask if he would be held in custody.
“There is no duty lawyer here,” the magistrate told him.
“But you’re going to need to get some legal advice and any application for bail must be heard by a judge in the Supreme Court.”
Police were joined by the air wing and canine unit during the suburb-wide lockdown on Monday as residents were warned via SMS to stay indoors due to a “serious incident” involving a man armed with a knife.
Margaret Norton was rushed to Royal Perth Hospital, where she remains in stable condition.
The couple’s dog is expected to make a full recovery.
Overnight, Niyonyishi was charged with one count of murder and one of attempting to unlawfully kill.
He will next appear in Stirling Gardens Magistrate Court on April 3.
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