Convicted rapist gets bail, appeals to Supreme Court of Canada

Photo: Nicholas Johansen

Jeremey Czechowski

Despite having been convicted of a violent 2016 rape, a West Kelowna man will be released on bail once again as he appeals his conviction through Canada's top court.

Jeremy Czechowski was convicted in 2018 of sexual assault causing bodily harm, unlawful confinement, attempting to choke and uttering threats, and sentenced to five years in prison.

While the 38-year-old maintained the sex he had with the victim in 2016 was consensual, the judge ruled that not only did the victim not consent, she also did not have the capacity to consent due to her intoxication at the time.

Following his conviction, Czechowski filed an appeal and he was granted bail once again. The Crown applied to have his bail revoked after he was charged with a separate charge of uttering threats in August 2020, but the Crown was unsuccessful.

Last fall, the BC Court of Appeal ruled that while the trial judge had made two “serious errors,” Czechowski's conviction was upheld, as the “circumstantial evidence against the applicant 'overwhelmingly established non consent' apart from the complainant’s testimony.”

But Czechowksi is now taking one more shot at appealing his conviction, taking the matter to the Supreme Court of Canada.

While a date has not been set yet for the Supreme Court of Canada hearing, the B.C. Court of Appeal recently granted Czechowksi bail while he awaits the top court's decision on his matter.

In her ruling last week, Justice Mary Saunders said Czechowski's detention is not necessary to maintain public safety and public confidence in the administration of justice.

“I recognize that the offences of which the applicant has been convicted are ones of serious interference with a person,” Justice Saunders wrote. “Yet the seriousness of an offence does not preclude bail.”

During the original six-day trial in May 2018, the court heard how the victim, M, had visited Czechowski's West Kelowna home after a night out clubbing in downtown Kelowna with a friend. M had believed they were going to the home to buy cocaine.

M testified Czechowski ripped off her underwear shortly after she arrived, and brought her purse to an upstairs bedroom. M followed him to retrieve her belongings.

“While in the bedroom, the accused pulled off her dress, pushed her onto the bed and began to have anal sex with her,” Justice Kenneth Ball said during Czechowski's sentencing. “He grabbed her throat and was squeezing hard. She was having difficulty breathing and worried that she would become unconscious."

Over a period of several hours, Czechowski left the room on several occasions, before coming back to the room and forcing M to have unprotected anal sex two other separate times.

After the third separate sexual assault that night, M found her cell phone and left the home. “Disheveled, intoxicated and terrified,” she was found by an RCMP officer hiding in a nearby bush just before 7 a.m.

Czechowski is still facing a separate charge of uttering threats stemming from an Aug. 3, 2020 incident in Enderby while he was on bail. While still in its early stages, that matter is scheduled to next be in Kelowna court in February.