The Penticton woman accusing Ronald Teneycke of sexually assaulting her testified she cannot remember many parts of the day but recalls being scared for her life and pleading for him to stop.
“He stopped me, put his arm around my neck and something up to it and said ‘Have you ever been raped by a serial rapist?’” said the woman, who cannot be identified.
The 44-year-old shaded her eyes with her hand on Tuesday while testifying so she would not have to look at the prisoner’s box where Teneycke, who is a convicted sex offender, sat. He is accused of three counts of sexual assault with a weapon/threats and bodily harm, one count of unlawful confinement and breach of a probation order for the incident that allegedly took place on July 31 and early hours of Aug. 1, 2011.
The woman said she was hitchhiking that afternoon on Highway 97 near Okanagan Amusements, looking for a ride to Keremeos to “party” with friends and was picked up by a large, fit man with long hair in a pony tail, a scar on his lip and driving a white Cadillac.
The woman said she did not know how many beers she had consumed at that point, but could recall at least one and believed she had taken Clonazepam — an anti-depressant. She said Teneycke drove her to Keremeos where she picked up a half-gram of cocaine and the pair consumed most of it on the way back.
She said Teneycke pulled off onto Oliver Ranch Road and onto service road 201 where he told her he had to return some tools or help a friend with his trailer. When they stopped she said Teneycke went into the trunk, pulling out a backpack, tarp and rope and that she did not want to sit by herself. They walked in the isolated, dark area until they came upon an abandoned pump house. That is when she believed he held a knife up to her throat and threatened her. The next thing she remembered was Teneycke telling her to put the tarp down inside, for her to lay on it and him ripping off her underwear.
Crown counsel John Swanson said in his opening that his evidence will show RCMP recovered a homemade device in the pump house fashioned out a small towel which was wrapped in a bigger towel and covered with some sort of elastic bandage. Condoms were also found on the device, and according to Crown, DNA taken from those items matched the woman and Teneycke. She testified Teneycke also tried to penetrate her but couldn’t get an erection.
“I begged him to stop and he started crying and saying he was sorry,” she said through her own tears.
Justice James Williams then heard that she was driven to Teneycke’s mother’s house in Okanagan Falls where she was given a glass of water by her alleged attacker and was told she can stay the night there in a different room than him. The woman said she sat on the couch in shock and finally got up and walked to IGA and called the police with her cellphone.
Michael Welsh, defence council for Teneycke, cross-examined the woman, flushing out that she lied to RCMP on both her statements by not divulging she had consumed alcohol or drugs that day. Welsh questioned if the mix of alcohol, drugs and her antidepressant got her too high and drunk, which caused her not to recall many of the events that day. She responded no. The court also heard the woman was a recovering alcoholic who was not in control of her drinking at that time. The trial is scheduled to last about two weeks.
