Lethbridge man charged with violent sexual assault back in court for 17th time as delays continue

The Lethbridge man accused of randomly attacking and sexually assaulting a woman before leaving her in an alley last fall is set to make his 17th court appearance today butstill hasn't had a bail hearing.

DenzelDre Colton Bird, 20, is due back inLethbridgecourt Friday for yet another brief appearance after cycling through defence lawyers for months.

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Bird had been represented by Greg White before dropping him at an earlier court appearance on April 7.

By April 20, he had once again retained White as his lawyer, butWhite removed himself as counsel in May.

Bird then hireddefence lawyerToniiRoulston, who said she plans to ask the court on Friday for another delay of one or two weeks because she still needs time to speak with her client about what he wants to do next.

"At this stage, what we need to do, as defence counsel, is obtain instructions from the client and then decide how we're going to proceed," she said.

Bird was arrested after a woman on her way to work last September was hit with a weapon, dragged into an alley and sexually assaulted.

A passerby found her suffering from life-threatening injuries and she ended up spending months in hospital, finally being released in late January.

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She had to relearn how to walk and talk as part of her recovery at home.

Roulstonsaid a bail application for Bird depends on how soon they can get a trial date.

"We're going to be ... ascertaining when we can actually get early trial dates in Lethbridge or whether or not we may be making an application for a change of venue," she said.

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