The woman alleged to have thrown a drink at Mayor Rob Ford will “vigorously defend” herself against the assault charge, her lawyer said Tuesday.

Shannon Everett, a 27-year-old multimedia developer for a university and yoga teacher, was charged after the alleged Saturday incident at the Taste of Little Italy festival. After days of silence, Everett wrote in an email to the Star, “Thank you for your interest in hearing my side of the story,” and directed all questions to her lawyer, Marie Henein.

Henein said it’s “most unfortunate” the mayor has talked about the incident outside of court.

The day after the festival, Ford and his brother, Councillor Doug Ford, commented on the case on their weekly radio show.

“The mayor should allow Ms Everett to have her day in court, where we will vigorously defend the charge against her,” Henein said in a statement, “and a court of law will have the full opportunity to assess Mayor Ford’s credibility.”

The mayor’s office did not respond to requests for comment about the statement.

Everett has never been involved with the police before, noted Henein, who represented former attorney general Michael Bryant.

The charges against Bryant, of criminal negligence causing death and dangerous operation of a motor vehicle causing death, followed a confrontation with a bicycle courier. They were ultimately dropped.

No matter what happens in Everett’s case, Jesse LaFleur said he’ll stand by his friend.

“She’s a creative person, she has a lot of outlets, she’s very intelligent, very level-headed. I’ve never seen her frustrated or angry,” he said, adding he’s trying to organize a group of friends to support her in court at Old City Hall on July 23.

LaFleur said he has yet to talk to Everett, who seemingly deleted her personal website, Twitter and other online accounts following the charge.

He said he’s known her since high school, staying in touch mostly online, and she seemed to have remained focused on interests from when they were classmates, including filmmaking and video editing.

She now works at the University of Ontario Institute of Technology as a multimedia developer in the teaching and learning centre, the Oshawa institution confirmed. Her university biography says she’s worked there since 2008, after graduating from media studies at the University of Western Ontario and post-graduate programs.

It also says she’s pursuing her master’s degree in education at UOIT, where the athletics department confirmed she has also taught yoga classes.

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