Increased security at the Kelowna courthouse as the Jonathan Bacon trial continues. - Image credit: Kathy Michaels

Increased security at the Kelowna courthouse as the Jonathan Bacon trial continues. - Image credit: Kathy Michaels

Friend of accused testifies at Kelowna sex assault trial

The trial of a West Kelowna man in a 2016 sexual assault continues at the Kelowna courthouse

(Editor’s note: Story contains graphic testimony)

A friend of Jeremy Czechowski’s, the West Kelowna man on trial for a 2016 sexual assault, said there was no indication of distress when Czechowski and his accuser went upstairs, Feb. 20, 2016.

The witness testified to hearing the accuser call out enthusiastically while she was in a bedroom with Czechowski, court heard Friday.

The witness said the accuser and her friend came to the house at around 11 p.m. that night. The accuser jumped into Czechowski’s lap shortly after introductions were made, he said.

“She jumped on his lap, straddling him, giggling, and he’s like ‘wow you’re cute,'” he said. “She had on a short dress and it was kind of riding up as she sat on his lap and you could see her panties sticking out of the side… he was playing with her panties with his finger and she was giggling.”

Related: Accused testifies in Kelowna sex assault trial

The witness said after the pair went upstairs, the accuser’s friend started crying and called her mom to pick her up.

The friend knocked on the bedroom door twice which held the accuser and Czechowski before she left, he said.

The witness then heard the accuser’s sounds from upstairs while he was in the living room.

Afterwards, the pair came downstairs and the witness noticed she wasn’t wearing any panties.

“She kinda bent over the kitchen area and I noticed she wasn’t wearing any panties, and I said ‘wow nice butt, nice ass’ is what I said to Jeremy and I said ‘would you like some pajama pants girl?’ She said ‘yes please.'”

“Did she put those pants on?” defence lawyer Cory Armour asked.

“Right in front of me yup, bent over, I said ‘wow’ again,” the witness said.

They went back upstairs and the witness said he could hear the same sounds as before from a female voice.

The witness then heard from Czechowski that the accuser had his purse and said he needed the witness’s help.

“I went up the stairs…and said (to the accuser) ‘that’s not your purse, it’s Jeremy’s give it back.’ She said ‘f*** you.'”

After making a grab for the purse she kicked him several times in the ribs and once in the groin so he put his head down and pushed her against the wall by her throat area, he said.

He said he then went into his bedroom where Czechowski told him she had ran out the door, and asked him to help find her.

Under cross examination, Crown counsel Angela Ross questioned what the man could hear happening upstairs from his location in the downstairs living room.

“May I suggest to you sir, that if you heard any sounds from up there, they were simply muffled noises, you couldn’t make out what anyone was saying, correct?”

“Wrong,” the witness said.

“May I suggest to you, hearing sounds through a closed door, through a floor that’s carpeted, through a ceiling, to another part of the house, that what you heard, and what you believe as “f*** yeah, is quite possibly f*** you?” she said.

“No, absolutely false. I heard it clearly,” he said.

The trial continues.

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