A man who allegedly cut off his own penis before dousing it in petrol and using it to start a fire at his mother's garage has been judged competent to stand trial, according to court documents.
Christopher Peden, 36, who is free on a $10,000 bond, was arrested for allegedly setting a fire at his mother's residence in Fort Wayne, Indiana, in an early morning attack.
Details of the Incident
Peden is said to have “harmed himself with a kitchen knife, cutting off his penis”, said a fire investigator in a court document. He then “poured gasoline on his penis and set it on fire on the floor of the garage just inside the door”.
Peden was arrested by police as he walked away from the property. In the court filing, Trayson Luna, a Fort Wayne Fire Department official, reported collecting evidence that included a gasoline container, four BIC lighters, and a kitchen knife.
Investigation and Confession
It is unclear what happened to the severed genitalia. Court documents seen by US outlets do not specify whether investigators were able to locate or recover it.
He allegedly told officers he had been threatened the day before, then stabbed by an unknown attacker. While being treated in hospital, Peden allegedly then admitted to an officer that he had lied about being attacked. He reportedly confessed his injuries were self-inflicted.
Competency Hearing and Trial Date
The decision to set a May 2027 trial date for Christopher Peden, 36, followed a competency hearing held last week before a Superior Court judge in Fort Wayne, reports The Smoking Gun.
The October 29 court appearance came after Peden recently underwent separate court-ordered evaluations conducted by a pair of psychologists. The doctors were appointed to examine Peden after Judge Frances Gull granted a defense motion to determine the defendant's “competency and insanity”. The competency reports authored by Dr. David Lombard and Dr. Stephen Ross are not part of the public court file.
