A dangerous offender from the South Okanagan could be headed back to court for a trial.
Ronald Arthur Teneycke is serving an indefinite sentence at the Kent Institution in Agassiz and is charged with failing to comply with a no contact order, allegedly sending a letter to the Oliver man he shot in 2015.
READ ALSO: South Okanagan dangerous offender in court for contacting victim
Teneycke was designated a dangerous offender in March 2018, for a crime spree that ended when RCMP arrested him in a Cawston orchard after t-boning the vehicle he was driving. The manhunt was sparked after Teneycke, who had been posing as a hitchhiker on Baldy Mountain Forest Service Road, shot Wayne Belleville and stole his truck.
READ ALSO: Teneycke saw himself as the victim
Teneycke pleaded guilty to aggravated assault, two counts of robbery, possession of a restricted firearm, failing to stop for RCMP and multiple breaches of probation.
It was during Christmas that Belleville allegedly received a letter from the Kent Institution, a maximum security facility, which would put Teneycke in breach of his no contact order.
READ ALSO: South Okanagan man ‘elated’ at criminal’s indefinite sentence
In Penticton provincial court on Monday, Teneycke, who was on the court docket as intending to plead guilty, did not have legal counsel to represent him. Appearing via video from prison, Teneycke told judge Michelle Daneliuk that he did not know that there was a no contact order with Belleville. Daneliuk decided to schedule the matter to a later date to allow Teneycke to seek legal advice, and possibly to bring the matter to a trial since he indicated in court that he did not believe he was guilty. Teneycke told Daneliuk that he was denied legal aid assistance because he is already in jail serving an indefinite sentence as a dangerous offender.
“It will, in fact, effect how his sentence would be administered and what would happen with the indefinite disposition he has got, so I really think it is important that he have counsel,” said Daneliuk.
Belleville previously told the Western News that Teneycke initially expressed regret in the letter for shooting him, then it took a turn.
“But he couldn’t even contain himself, he later went on to say that he had zero empathy for me and that, in fact, if it wasn’t for my behaviour, he wouldn’t have shot me at all – effectively blaming me.”
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