Dangerous offender who left Alberta woman in vegetative state denied parole

Al Muckle sits in the back of an RCMP cruiser after being arrested in connection with a 2005 sexual assault and vicious beating of a woman in Banff. (file)

The Parole Board of Canada says a man who assaulted a young pregnant woman and left her for dead remains too dangerous to be released into the community.

Albert Muckle, who is now 44, pleaded guilty to aggravated sexual assault and attempted murder in the 2005 attack on the Banff, Alta., hotel worker.

Court heard that Muckle beat her unconscious and stole $20. He later returned and sexually assaulted her before attempting to strangle her with her purse strap.

He was declared a dangerous offender and handed an indefinite sentence.

The woman remains in a persistent vegetative state, unable to speak or move.

At his parole hearing in B.C., Muckle refused to talk about the attack.

"I'm not comfortable talking about it. I'm really not," he told the two-member panel at the medium-security penitentiary in Abbotsford, B.C. on Thursday.

The answer puzzled the panel chair, who said to Muckle: "After an agreed-upon statement of facts, after reporting to a plainclothes police officer what transpired, after discussing this in programming, you're not willing to discuss that with us today?"

Muckle replied, "I never actually admitted anything to a plainclothed police officer. I've never admitted to anything. I've never said anything."

The panel continued: "Can I ask you one question, Albert? Did you do it?"

"No."

His parole officer said Muckle had made some progress and completed programs which led to him being transferred from a maximum security prison to a medium security institution two years ago.

She said Muckle had a difficult upbringing that included abuse at home, addiction problems and time in foster care but recommended against either day or full parole.

She said he still poses a high risk for violent reoffending and a medium risk for sexual violence.

Muckle also told the two-member panel that he had no release plan and had been contemplating taking his own life.

"I don't think there are things I can achieve anymore. I just feel I'm setting myself up for a hope that I'm never going to get," he said.

Muckle also said he no longer wants to be considered Indigenous.

"It seems like I'm putting a target on my own back. It would be easier if I just had the system think of me as white. I just really don't want to be native anymore," Muckle said.

"If you're native you're identified as a threat."

The panel encouraged him to keep working at improving himself and aim for a gradual release but the parole was denied.

"We're going to deny both day and full parole. We feel at this point that your risk is undue and it would not facilitate your successful reintegration."

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 19, 2024.