Lynn Valley stabbing accused makes 1st court appearance

The man accused of killing one person in Saturday's stabbings at the Lynn Valley Library had his first appearance in North Vancouver provincial court Thursday morning.

Yannick Bandaogo, 28, is charged with second-degree murder. 

He was arrested at the scene of the attacks, in which a woman in her late 20s died and six other people were seriously injured.

Bandaogo wore white prison garb in the video appearance.

Judge Patricia Janzen urged him to apply for counsel and a French language trial before adjourning the matter until 2 p.m. PT. A French interpreter translated for the accused.

On Monday, Bandaogo refused to leave his cell where he's been in isolation due to COVID-19, since he was arrested. As a result, he's had no access to a telephone and has no lawyer yet.

Investigators have said there is no evidence to link the accused to any of the victims and that he seems to have had little connection to North Vancouver or the Lynn Valley area.

The dead woman has not been publicly identified. The five women and one man who were hurt have varied injuries. They range in age from 22 to 78 and all are expected to survive. 

Bandaogo has a history of run-ins with police elsewhere.

In January, he was sentenced in Winnipeg to 160 days of time served and one year of supervised probation after admitting to threatening to stab two city employees.

Last year, in Quebec, he failed to appear in court on two occasions, resulting in warrants being issued for his arrest. In September 2019, Bandaogo had pleaded guilty to assault with a weapon causing bodily harm, also in Quebec.

A year earlier, he was sentenced to one month in jail for assaulting a police officer and resisting arrest in Longueuil, Que., a suburb of Montreal. He was also sentenced to four months for assault causing bodily harm, and three months in connection with two other assault cases.