Despite all the attention, Marlene Bird still vulnerable
- EFN Staff | October 27, 2014
She was homeless but she was also harmless. “What did I do so wrong to have this to happen to me?” asks Marlene Bird, staring down at her permanently disfigured body, remembering the unprovoked attack that resulted in the amputation of both of her legs.
Sometime during the evening of May 31, Marlene Bird remembers walking to an area in downtown Prince Albert. She had been there before but never that late at night. She didn’t want to go out with her friends so she wandered off alone. Bird recalls running into a group of aboriginal men, but she wasn’t very familiar with them. It’s still hard for her to remember all of the exact details of what happened next, she says she turned her back to the group and that’s when the brutal attack began.
“All of a sudden, I don’t know what happened but I started to get {hit} on my head. I was trying to get up to see” recalls Bird before she lost consciousness. Bird says she blacked out from the blows to her head but remembers waking up in pain when ambulance personnel arrived at the scene the morning of June 1. She didn’t know the extent of her injuries or that she was in the battle for her life.
Bird was immediately flown to Edmonton hospital and put into a medically induced coma while Prince Albert Police began their investigation. Bird was severely beaten and her face was lacerated, partially exposed from the cuts from her forehead to her neck, nearly causing her to also lose her left eye. She was also sexually assaulted and then set on fire. The burns began at her mid-waist and covered the front and back of her body down to her legs. “They cut my face and burnt {me everywhere}, my private parts are just awful” says Bird struggling to come to grips with the reality of the aftermath and showing the exact area of the burns that forced doctors to amputate both legs above the knee. “The doctor said they were in such bad condition. It could have been worse. I didn’t know what to think.” Bird spent months in hospital recovering from the amputation and allowing time for her skin to heal from the severe burns and skin graphs covering her back, shoulders and sides of torso.
Although she was not awake during the beating that almost ended her life, Bird says she is still haunted by the memories of what transpired every day and night. “I kept dreaming and having some nightmares. Waking up just scared… shaking and scared.”
Bird says she now lives in fear, even though Prince Albert Police have arrested and charged one man in the attack. Leslie Black remains in custody as he awaits an October 31st hearing for charges of Attempted Murder and Aggravated Sexual Assault. Bird still has so many questions, “Why would somebody just go and attack someone like that, alone?”
She feels that more than two people took part in the attack; however, Prince Albert Police maintain that no other charges will be laid stating that they’re confident in the investigation. Sgt. Brandon Mudry says the investigation is complete and the exact details of what happened that night will come out at Black’s trial.
For Bird, adjusting to a life without her legs and facing the same addictions that left her vulnerable and homeless is a daily struggle. “I get pretty mad at myself, why did this have to happen to me?” Bird is living in a temporary assisted living home and going to counselling regularly. She says her alcohol addiction, which started at an early age and learning to deal with a lifetime of memories of the sexual and physical abuse she endured is a daily obstacle. “I just have to learn to live like this.”
Bird is a client of the YWCA which is still taking in donations for Bird’s care. They’ve received over $35,000 and countless letters and cards of support for Bird. They are currently struggling to find a permanent home for Bird that is wheelchair accessible. “I would like to be on my own, to have my own place like I used to when I was younger.”