Matthew de Grood, the young man accused of stabbing five people to death in Brentwood last April, appeared in a Calgary courtroom on Monday for a preliminary hearing in his trial.

De Grood is charged with five counts of first degree murder after police say he stabbed five people to death at a house party in a northwest home.

Zackariah Rathwell, Kaiti Perras, Jordan Segura, Lawrence Hong, and Joshua Hunter were all celebrating the end of classes when they were alleged stabbed by de Grood, who was an invited guest.

The preliminary hearing is expected to last two weeks but the Crown says it expects to be finished calling its 13 witnesses by Friday.

De Grood appeared himself in the packed courtroom, wearing a blue suit.

Members of the victims' family and friends are attending the proceedings, along with de Grood's parents.

Details on the proceedings are protected by a publication ban, but the outcome of the hearing is expected to determine whether or not the case will proceed against de Grood.

At his last court appearance in September, the court learned that de Grood had been undergoing a series of psychological tests to determine his mental state at the time of the murders.

Those results have not been released, with the presiding judge imposing a temporary publication ban on those details.