The Toronto man accused in the death of a York University student will be pleading not guilty to first-degree murder, his lawyer said on Friday.

Steven Kyrs said his client, 29-year-old Brian Dickson, would be pleading not guilty the first chance he gets.

"Absolutely, 100 per cent," Kyrs told ctvtoronto.ca on Friday, before saying that he anticipated presenting a very strong defence.

Dickson is currently being held at the Maplehurst Correctional Facility after being charged earlier this week in the death of 23-year-old Qian Liu, a student who moved from China to study at Toronto's York University.

Liu was found dead in her basement apartment one week ago, several hours after her boyfriend in China watched via webcam as she tried to fend off an attacker who had knocked on her door.

Her boyfriend, Meng Xianchao, spoke exclusively to CTV News in Beijing on Wednesday, and outlined the shock of watching what he said was a man attempt to hug his girlfriend before turning on her.

CTV Toronto's Austin Delaney reported on Thursday that Dickson lived in a first-floor apartment in the same building, one of nine units inside the townhouse located near York University.

York University said in a released statement on Thursday that Dickson was not a registered student and does not have a degree from the university.

However, a 2008 newsletter from the Atlantic Council of Canada, a group founded to promote NATO at which Dickson was formerly an executive assistant, described him as a former York student who was twice re-elected vice-president of the undergraduate political science council.

The Atlantic Council of Canada confirmed in a statement that Dickson had worked with the group between Sept. 29, 2008 and March 27, 2009, but would not offer further comment.

Besides being a former global politics student, Dickson was active with several extra-curricular activities.

Dickson, who was an amateur actor with The Players Academy, was also the co-founder of the York Model NATO Organization.

Dickson's profile on the Atlantic Council of Canada website described him as a running instructor and someone who "continually strives to get his parents to eat healthier food – a challenge."

Kyrs said that Dickson's family was doing as well as they could be under the circumstances.

Dickson is expected to make a brief court appearance via video on April 24.