A repeat sex offender accused of sexually assaulting a young woman in a Montreal church basement last week is waiving his right to a bail hearing.

"I believe it was not appropriate to request a bail," defence lawyer Sylvie Bordelais told reporters. She said her client 46-year-old Christopher Norman Jost wasn't in court because they wouldn't be seeking bail.

A 19-year-old woman was sexually assaulted January 5th in the St.James the Apostle Church on Ste Catherine Street near Bishop Street. Jost was arrested three days later in South Shore Brossard following a Canada-wide arrest warrant. He faces five charges in connection with the assault.

Jost was staying in a halfway house at the time, after serving a prison sentence for a previous sexual assault of a 14-year-old girl in New Brunswick. He was declared a long term offender to be monitored for several years.

Bordelais said they'll decide their next move once the case returns to court during the first week of February.

"To decide where we're going, what we're going to do, what will happen for the following court proceedings."