Nelson Lugela, the man accused of killing Calgary Stampeders' defensive back Mylan Hicks appeared in court on Friday via CCTV.
Hicks and other members of the team were at the Marquee Beer Market on Macleod Trail last weekend when he was shot following an altercation outside the bar.
He was transported to hospital and died from his injuries.
The next day, Lugela, 19, was charged with second-degree murder in connection to Hicks’ death.
Lugela has a history with police and had outstanding warrants at the time of his arrest.
Lugela's sister Flora, was in court for the proceedings on Friday and said she spoke to Nelson on the phone and that he doesn't remember what happened.
“He told me I don’t remember what happened. I was just drunk. I remember that we went to the bar and one of his friends was there and they were having an argument with the football team,” she said. “He didn’t care. When he went to the bathroom he went to find the security and the football team were there and then he came in, find the people pushing the guy off and they tried to figure out what happened and he didn’t care, he’s just like, okay, his other friend came, what happened, he was like, I don’t know, I came from the bathroom, I just found out that’s what’s going on but I don’t care, I just want a drink. So he went off, off drinking.”
She said her brother told her that he took off because he was afraid of police.
“He’s afraid from the cops. He’d been there since he was 13, he doesn’t like to be in the jail or he doesn't ever hear when you say police, he just nervous, he doesn’t like it so basically if he goes somewhere and finding the police or whatever he just leaves because he doesn’t want to get involved,” she said.
She told reporters that she is "sorry for their loss' but that she doesn't believe her brother killed Hicks.
“I believe that my brother might have certain things that happened in the past. I don’t believe that he did it at all. I believe there’s someone there, out there, he’s the one did it but they’re not telling the truth,” she said. “The truth will come out, whoever did it will come out.”
Flora Lugela said she and her family will attend every court date to support Nelson. “I am going to be here and I want to know the truth too.”
The court appearance comes a day after a memorial service was held for Hicks at McMahon Stadium and his mother, Renee Hill, and the team attended.
Hill says that she is devastated by the death of her son, but has found strength in his teammates, even though he’d only been a part of the team for a few months.
During the memorial service, images of the young man and his number, 31, were displayed on the big screen to honour him.
Hill says her son was the type of person who just wanted to help and that he told her that he expected to die doing an act of service.
“He’s a giver and he even said he’d probably lose his life giving and he did. He got his teammates out of the way as I said. Out there, he took the hit,” Hill said.
Teammates who were with Hicks at the time of the shooting say he was trying to break up a fight between two other groups of people.
Nelson Lugela appeared in court via CCTV from the Calgary Remand Centre and the case was adjourned until November 4, 2016.
