A Battle Ground man who allegedly cut his mother’s throat while she was preparing a meal has been ordered to undergo a mental health evaluation.
Vladimir Tkachuk, 36, will be sent to Western State Hospital for the evaluation, which will determine whether he’s mentally competent to stand trial.
His mother, Dina Tkachuk, 54, survived the attack.
Clark County Superior Court Judge Barbara Johnson ordered the evaluation at the request of Tkachuk’s court-appointed attorney, Chuck Buckley Jr.
Tkachuk has been in the Clark County Jail in lieu of $200,000 bail since his arrest March 28.
He may not be arraigned on charges of second-degree attempted murder and third-degree assault until he is found competent. Mentally competent, by definition of the law, is the ability to assist in one’s own defense. Someone may be legally competent and still have a mental illness.
Court records indicate that Tkachuk reported he has been diagnosed with schizophrenia.
Dina Tkachuk sustained a 3- to 4-inch laceration on her neck and one on her cheek in the attack, according to court records. She was treated at PeaceHealth Southwest Medical Center.
The defendant’s 15-year-old sister, Kristina Tkachuk, said she heard their mother scream about noon March 28. She went into the kitchen and saw her mother lying on the floor bleeding. Vladimir Tkachuk was standing over her holding a knife, according to court records. Kristina Tkachuk said she took the knife away from him; her finger was cut in the process. She then tried but failed to push him out of the house, she said. When she called 911, she said, Tkachuk grabbed a steak knife.
A neighbor, Nina Zabolotskaya, said she also heard screaming and knocked on the family’s door to see what was the matter. When the neighbor entered the house, Vladimir Tkachuk “completely changed,” Kristina Tkachuk said. He started saying, “Mama, forgive me, forgive me,” according to court records.
The mother said the attack was unprovoked, according to court records. She said that she was cooking eggs when Tkachuk came up to her and started cutting her without saying a word, court records say.
Battle Ground police responded to the residence in the 1400 block of Southwest Eighth Avenue and arrested Tkachuk.
