CROWN SEEKING DANGEROUS OFFENDER STATUS FOR DRIFTER

Calgary A Crown prosecutor is seeking dangerous offender status for an Ontario drifter who pleaded guilty to raping, sodomizing and trying to kill a six- week pregnant hotel worker in Banff, Alta. Albert George Muckle pleaded guilty to charges of attempted murder and aggravated sexual assault against a 20year-old woman who is not expected to recover from the coma she has been in since the July 11 attack in Banff ’ s Central Park. Court heard that Muckle met the young victim in front of a nightclub at around 1:40 a.m. and asked her for a cigarette. He later attacked her in the park, knocking her unconscious, raping and robbing her. She was left for dead, half-clothed by the riverbank, and was discovered five hours later by a woman out for an early morning walk. About five hours after the woman, an employee of the Rimrock Resort Hotel, was flown to Foothills Hospital by air ambulance, the suspect walked into the popular local restaurant and was hired on the spot. He was picked up by Calgary RCMP hitchhiking out of town early the following day at 5 a.m. along the 1A Highway that leads to Calgary. Muckle will appear again in Calgary Provincial Court on Oct. 27.