Competency hearing ordered in murder case

An Abbotsford man accused of killing his two children and repeatedly stabbing his wife was granted a competency hearing Tuesday by Clark County Judge Lyndsey Boon Brunette.

Victor Manuel Gomez Acosta, 29, has been charged with two counts of first degree intentional homicide in the July 5 deaths of his two daughters in Abbotsford. He has also been charged with attempted first degree homicide after he allegedly stabbed his wife multiple times during the same July 5 incident.

According to online court records, Judge Boon Brunette granted a motion for a mental competency evaluation, as requested by Gomez Acosta’s attorney, Joseph Kaupie. The defense attorney requested that an inpatient assessment be done at either the Mendota Mental Health Institute near Madison or the Winnebago Mental Health Institute in Oshkosh.

District attorney Melissa Inlow raised no objections to the evaluation being done.

Based on online records, Gomez Acosta had to be removed from the courtroom during Tuesday’s hearing after he continued making comments that interrupted the proceedings. An interpreter was unable to understand what the defendant was saying, other than his name. A criminal complaint filed on July 9 says officers responded to Gomez Acosta’s home on Oak Street during the early morning hours of July 5 after a stabbing was reported. Officers met with a female victim who had suffered a total of 17 stab wounds to the arms and abdomen. She was transported to the emergency room and later underwent surgery. The wife said she and her daughters were asleep when they were attacked.

Gomez Acosta was arrested and treated for self-inflicted cuts to his chest.

The defendant’s two children were found stabbed to death inside the family’s home, according to the criminal complaint.

Victor Manuel Gomez Acosta