The suspect in an attack on a 16-year-old Cobalt girl last week remains in the North Bay jail today awaiting a bail hearing.

This morning around a dozen protesters protested outside Haileybury Crown Court, where the case is being heard, demanding that 18-year-old Phillipe Gagnon be refused bail. The family remains in Ottawa, where Kaylie Smith remains in hospital after being hit by a vehicle and then attacked with a sword.

The next appearance was adjourned for two weeks and no bail was granted today. The judge issued a publication ban on all evidence presented in bail court.

The protesters, using a megaphone, were loud enough to be heard in the courtroom chanting “common sense, no bail”. The protesters vowed to return in two weeks.

Kaylie’s best friend Kessie Pellerin, 16, skipped school today to attend the protest. She said she used to hang out with Smith and Gagnon and knew the two very well. She says no one is surprised by the attack.

She says Smith and Gagnon broke up about a week before the attack on Kaylie.

On Sunday evening there was a vigil attended by over 100 people.

The family says Kaylie is awake in the hospital and in stable condition.

On Nov. 3 at 6 p.m., Temiskaming OPP were called to the scene of the attack, where a vehicle struck the girl at the intersection of Helen Street and Prospect Avenue near Highway 11B after she got off a bus and headed toward house following a job change.

The driver then got out of the vehicle and attacked the victim with a sword, an OPP statement said.