By Taylor MacPherson

Marlene Bird attends Leslie Black dangerous offender hearing

Mar 15, 2017 | 5:00 PM

When Marlene Bird arrived in court for Leslie Black’s dangerous offender hearing, she moved her wheelchair as close as possible to the man who forced her into it.

Bird was the victim of a brutal attack by Black in 2014. As a result of the attempted murder, Bird was beat, sexually assaulted and burned, which resulted in the loss of much of her eyesight and the amputation of both legs.

“I don’t really like looking at him,” Bird told paNOW outside the courtroom. “I wanted to make him see what he did to me. I know it’s not right.”

Bird said she was upset to learn that the sexual assault charge against Black was dropped when he entered his guilty plea for attempted murder.

“They dropped the sexual abuse charge. That’s not right,” Bird said. “That’s the reason he burned me.”

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Bird said she is trying to attend the two-week hearing as often as possible, but travel arrangements from her home in Timber Bay and frequent doctor’s appointments make it difficult. Both Bird and her partner Patrick Levallee wrote victim impact statements which will be presented as evidence during the hearing. Bird said she doesn’t intend to read hers on the stand.

“I’ll let one of the lawyers read them,” Bird said.

Black’s dangerous offender hearing has been running since Monday at Prince Albert Provincial Court. Today, forensic psychiatrist Dr. Shabehram Lohrasbe testified Black did not have a history of violence prior to his attack on Bird, but should still be classified as a high risk to reoffend.

If he is designated a dangerous offender, Black could be given an indeterminate prison sentence.

Taylor.macpherson@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @TMacPhersonNews