Dirk Derstine, lawyer for Michael Rafferty, to defend Eaton Centre shooting suspect

TORONTO – The lawyer who defended child killer Michael Rafferty will also defend the man accused in a mass shooting at Toronto’s Eaton Centre.

The 23-year-old accused, Christopher Husbands, appeared in court briefly on Wednesday.

Escorted into a Toronto courtroom by six police officers, Husbands stood in silence during a proceeding to formally engage his new lawyer, Dirk Derstine.

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A judicial pre-trial hearing has been scheduled for Oct. 1.

Husbands is charged with two counts of first-degree murder, five counts of attempted murder and one of criminal negligence causing bodily harm.

The shootings sparked mass panic at downtown Toronto’s busiest mall in June, killing one man at the scene, while a second victim died in hospital days later.

Rafferty was convicted in May of first-degree murder, sexual assault causing bodily harm and kidnapping in the death of Victoria Stafford, an eight-year-old girl from Woodstock, Ont.