The Butler Township man accused of attempting to stab someone in the back of the head on Feb. 28 was deemed competent to stand trial at a hearing Thursday, Aug. 8.

Aaron M. Demko, 20, of Butler, appeared before Butler County Common Pleas Court Judge Joseph Kubit on Thursday, where his attorney said a competency test determined that Demko is fit to stand trial for his felony aggravated assault charge.

Demko was charged in March with felony aggravated assault after police responded Feb. 28 to a disturbance in the 400 block of West New Castle Street allegedly involving Demko. According to police, an alleged victim told officers that Demko struck him in the back of the head with a small kitchen knife as he was bent over cleaning. The knife’s blade broke off from the handle, police said.

Demko acted as his own attorney during his preliminary hearing March 1 and offered no reply to District Judge William Fullerton when asked why he did not apply to hire a public defender.

At the preliminary hearing, witness David Cribbs testified that he allowed Demko into his Butler apartment the night of Feb. 28, though he had previously asked him not to come there. Cribbs said Demko attacked him a few hours later that night as he was picking something off the ground.

“(Demko) tried to stab me in the back of the neck with a knife. It kind of broke ... he ran back into my kitchen and grabbed a bigger knife. He started stabbing at me again,” Cribbs said at that time. “The knife kind of just broke on my head.”

Cribbs said he punched Demko in the face and another witness obtained the knife. Demko left the apartment and was found walking in the middle of the street on Bell Drive in Pullman Plaza, according to documents.

After wrapping up testimony Thursday, Kubit scheduled a status conference for Demko’s case for 2:30 p.m. Aug. 26.