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Ross said the system has a responsibility to make sure Garland is protected.

“I’m really surprised and disappointed to hear this because he’s been in custody in two and a half years, we’ve never made a bail application in respect to this matter and he hasn’t had any problems,” Ross said. “All of a sudden, the day after being found guilty and the day of his sentencing he runs into this issue.”

EMS said the victim was transported to hospital in stable, non-life threatening condition with soft-tissue injuries. Alberta Justice confirmed the man is still in hospital.

Crown prosecutor Shane Parker told the court Garland was motivated to kill the Liknes’ by a years-long grudge over a failed oilfield pump Alvin Liknes and Garland worked on together over a decade ago.

Garland was arrested more than two weeks after he violently kidnapped O’Brien and the Liknes’ from the couple’s Calgary home during an estate sale on June 29, 2014. O’Brien was staying with his grandparents on the day of the sale for an impromptu sleepover. Garland then took his captives to his Airdrie farm where he lived with his elderly parents to commit the murders before destroying their bodies in a burn barrel.

Alvin’s DNA was found on a charred fragment inside the barrel and Kathy’s DNA was discovered on small pieces of cloth found near the incinerator. Both Alvin’s and Nathan’s DNA was found on a large meat saw on the Garland property.

Garland was found guilty of the murders on Thursday and Justice David Gates handed Garland 75 years in prison without the chance of parole on Friday. Garland’s sentence ties with that of Justin Bourque, convicted in 2014 of killing three RCMP officers in Moncton, and John Ostamas, convicted in 2016 for killing three transient men in Winnipeg, for the longest in Canada without the chance of parole.

Police said they are investigating the incident in cooperation with officials from Alberta Justice to determine the circumstances of the assault.

No charges have been laid.

– With files from Bryan Passifiume