Foerster guilty in assaults

Photo: Contributed

Matthew Foerster.

Matthew Foerster has pleaded guilty to charges in connection to two other attacks in the Okanagan.

The 28-year-old man is already serving a life sentence in prison, with no possibility of parole for 25 years, after being found guilty of murdering Armstrong teen Taylor Van Diest in 2011.

These new charges stem from a home invasion in Cherryville in 2004 when he broke into the home and attacked a 19-year-old woman, and an incident in 2005 at the Garden of Eden in Kelowna, when he forced himself on a sex trade worker while holding a knife to her throat.

The now 29-year-old Cherryville victim (who has since married, changed her family name and moved) wept as she read a victim impact statement to the court before sentencing. 

"On the day I was attacked, I woke up and blood was coming from my head," she said. "I've never been so scared in my life."

The woman said after the attack she was rushed to hospital with temporary hearing loss in one ear and was suffering from confusion, dizziness and emotional trauma.

"I didn't trust anyone in Lumby or Cherryville," she said. "I was forced to move on knowing he was on the streets. I'll never feel the same about my family home."

Foerster, who looks skinnier after starting his 25-years of 21-hour per day lockup, kept his eyes downcast and showed little reaction during the reading of the informations, victim's statement and sentencing. 

Foerster was sentenced to six years on each count, to be served concurrently. He is also required to give a DNA sample, must have no contact with either victim, will have a lifetime firearms ban and will be placed on the sexual offender registry for life.

In his decision, Justice Mark Takahashi said mitigating factors were Foerster's young age at the time, his lack of a criminal record at the time of the crimes and that he pleaded guilty thus bypassing the need for a trial.

The victim's mother Denise Walterhouse said she would like to see the justice system move away from concurrent sentencing.

"He should be put away for life, not 25 years," she said. "He savagely beat women and destroyed the life of a young girl who was 18-years-old. . . He's killed one - she's lost her life. To me, it's not a fair justice system."

Foerster is currently appealing his conviction in the Van Diest murder, with an application filed with the Court of Appeal in September.

Crown counsel Iain Currie said the sentence had to be concurrent because of Canadian law. 

"The criminal code says that you can't have a consecutive sentence to a life sentence, which is what Mr. Foerster is presently serving; life without possibility of parole for 25 years."

If that conviction is upheld, these new guilty pleas and prison sentences will have no impact on his current situation, as he is not eligible for parole on the murder charge until 2039.