A 47-year-old Saskatchewan woman who suffered a violent attack earlier this year says she’s still struggling to put her life back together, after being beaten, burned and left for dead.
Marlene Bird was found in a downtown Prince Albert, Sask., parking lot on June 1. Bird had been viciously beaten, set on fire, suffered third-degree burns and barely conscious when she was found.
She was so badly wounded that half of her forehead down to her chin was lacerated and both of her legs required amputation. She continues to wear a patch over her right eye and now uses a wheelchair.
After four months of recovery in Edmonton and Saskatoon hospitals, where she underwent the amputations and reconstructive surgeries to have half of her face re-attached, Bird was discharged. But now she is speaking out, saying she is having trouble coping with the circumstances of her new life.
“What did I do so wrong to have this happen to me?” Bird told CTV Saskatoon. “I do try my best to be strong.”
Bird recalls that the surgeon who treated her promised he would try to save one of her legs. “When I woke up, I looked at my legs. I put my head back and I yelled at the nurse and said: ‘I thought he was going to save one of my legs?’ ”
Since Bird’s discharge, she says she is wrestling with the physical pain and nightmares from the attack, the loss of the use of her legs, alcohol addiction, and being homeless. Bird was transient before the attack and often stayed in community shelters. But now, with limited mobility, she is still waiting for housing approval.
“I get mad at myself; I’m really afraid, feeling helpless,” Bird said.
Bird’s family is worried that she was released from hospital too early, as she had not conquered her alcohol addiction, does not have a place to live or the proper social supports she needs.
Donna Brooks, YWCA executive director in Prince Albert, said Bird’s attack was against “one of our most vulnerable people in our society.”
“It was senseless, unnecessary and the public does need to hear this,” Brooks said.
Bird grew up in foster homes and was neglected as a teenager. She became an alcoholic and suffered physical and verbal abuse from a boyfriend.
Bird managed to finish Grade 10 high school by the age of 18, but then dropped out.
She worked in a local casino, but lost her job because she kept showing up at work with black eyes.
“I’d have black eyes and tell my boss again, sorry, but you know what happened, it’s the same old story,” Bird recalled, referencing the domestic abuse.
But the black eyes felt like a speck in comparison to the June battery she suffered.
Bird said she believes more than one person attacked her, but police said have concluded their investigation.
Leslie Black, 29, of Prince Albert, is charged with aggravated sexual assault and attempted murder. He is next scheduled to appear in Prince Albert provincial court on Oct. 31.
- With files from CTV Saskatoon
