Leslie Black affected by childhood trauma, capable of extreme violence, psychiatrist tells hearing

A forensic psychiatrist has told a dangerous offender hearing that a Saskatchewan man who brutally beat a woman before setting her clothes on fire is capable of extreme violence.

The psychiatrist testified that Leslie Black is haunted by childhood trauma that includes watching his mother being stabbed to death on his ninth birthday.

Black's dangerous offender hearing has been running since Monday in Prince Albert provincial court.

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He earlier pleaded guilty in the attempted murder of Marlene Bird, who was severely injured and lost both legs in the June 2014 attack that happened after Black had sex with her.

If Black is designated a dangerous offender, he will face an indeterminate prison sentence.

The hearing was told Black has a personality trait that causes him to struggle to identify and describe his emotions.