A man charged with murder and committed to a psychiatric hospital escaped from his doctors on Thursday while being escorted to a discussion of his case at a Haifa court.

46-year-old Jerusalem resident Eliyahu Fahima was charged with the murder of a yeshiva student in 2002, but was later found unfit to stand trial. He has been hospitalized under court order and the "Sha'ar Menashe" psychiatric facility near Hadera.

A medical team escorted Fahima to a courthouse in Haifa Thursday morning, where a judge was to rule on whether Fahima would be granted leave from the hospital in order to pay off a debt from his past.