RED DEER, ALTA. -- The man accused of killing a family doctor at a medical clinic in central Alberta will be back in court in February to get a date for his trial.
Deng Mabiour, who is 54, is charged with first-degree murder in the slaying of Dr. Walter Reynolds at the Village Mall Walk-In Clinic in Red Deer in August.
He pleaded not guilty to first-degree murder, assault with a weapon and assaulting a police officer on Monday.
Mabiour has indicated that he doesn't trust the justice system and wants the trial to go ahead as soon as possible.
He will be representing himself.
"I’m a black man," Mabour said in the courtroom on Monday. "There is no lawyer good for me to help me or to defend me according to the facts.”
Mabiour has had a number of unusual interactions with the court since his arrest, and a judge ordered a psychiatric examination to determine if the accused understood the charges against him.
A psychiatrist found Mabiour fit to stand trial, despite his behaviour in court.
Reynolds, a 45-year-old father of two, was attacked with a weapon while he was working at the clinic on Aug. 10 and died later in hospital.
One witness told media that she was in the waiting room when she heard cries for help and saw a man with a hammer and a machete.
RCMP have said the crime was not random and the two men knew each other through the clinic, although police have not said if Mabiour was a patient of Reynolds.
Mabiour will return to court on Feb. 1, 2021.
With files from The Canadian Press
