Suspect faces test in Oct. 22 attack at Mass. General

David Flavell, 40, appeared in Boston Municipal Court and underwent a psychiatric evaluation by Kerry Eudy, a court psychologist who recommended that the homeless man be sent to Bridgewater State Hospital. There, over the next 20 days, clinicians will review his competency to stand trial.

“He states that he is hearing voices,’’ Eudy told Judge Sally Kelly yesterday after her evaluation.

“He is having interfering thoughts about being in a closet. He is concerned about this case, but he is also concerned about being in a closet.’’

Flavell has been sent to psychiatric hospitals at least five other times, including two earlier commitments to Bridgewater State Hospital, Eudy said.

He has been diagnosed as suffering from major depression and bipolar disorder. But since his release from state custody in the past few weeks, he has not been taking medications to control his mental illnesses.

Speaking outside the courtroom, Flavell’s lawyer, Neil Madden of Dorchester, said his client continues to wrestle with personal demons that have haunted him for decades.

Flavell told his lawyer: “I don’t feel like I’m on Earth. I feel like I’m in a spaceship somewhere.’’

Last week, Madden said his client had no memory of the Oct. 22 assault at Mass. General, in part because he drank a large quantity of rum.

Yesterday, Madden said his client’s mind remains clouded.

“He doesn’t seem to have a good comprehension of what happened,’’ Madden said. “Whether that’s because of the alcohol or what’s going in his head, I don’t know.’’

Police arrested Flavell inside the hospital after he allegedly attacked a woman inside a bathroom, leaving her bruised and bloody.

The woman, a hospital employee, was treated for her injuries and released.

In court yesterday, David Deakin, an assistant Suffolk district attorney, did not object to the 20-day evaluation at Bridgewater Hospital.

Flavell is due back in court Nov. 16.

In 2006 and in 2009, prosecutors in Bristol and Norfolk counties tried to have Flavell civilly committed to the Massachusetts Treatment Center for the sexually dangerous.

But after separate trials, two Superior Court judges concluded the evidence was not strong enough to warrant the commitment, which lasts from one day to life.