Denzel Bird, the 20-year-old man accused of attacking a young woman and leaving her for dead in a Lethbridge alley last week, made his first court appearance on Friday.
Bird appeared in court in person for just a few minutes, remained silent and spent most of that time looking around the courtroom.
He is charged with attempted murder, aggravated sexual assault, sexual assault with a weapon, aggravated assault and break and enter in connection to an attack on a woman in the southern Alberta city on September 30, 2016.
The 25-year-old woman was walking to work early in the morning when she was approached by a man, hit with a weapon and dragged into a south side alley where she was sexually assaulted.
She was found by a member of the community and was taken to hospital in Calgary by EMS in critical condition where she remains.
Publication bans around the names of sexual assault victims prevent us from identifying the woman at this time.
Defence lawyer, Greg White, acted as an agent for Bird on Friday and says he has met with the accused but has not yet been retained to represent him.
White says he is upset that police chose to parade Bird in front of the media outside the police station following his arrest.
“One, it’s a violation of his constitutional rights and number two it inflames any potential jury pool that might hear his case in the future so that’s of great concern to me,” said White.
Bird's case has been adjourned until October 20th.
