Photo: Nicholas Johansen

Jeremy Czechowski

A friend of the man accused of raping a woman in West Kelowna two years ago took the stand in court Friday morning, corroborating much of the accused's version of the events that night.

The sexual assault trial for Jeremy Czechowski began last week, with the alleged victim testifying the accused violently raped her in a home on Wiig Road in the early hours of Feb. 21, 2016 after she and her friend went there following a night out at Sapphire nightclub.

Czechowski took the stand Wednesday and claimed he and the alleged victim, M, whom he'd never met prior to that evening, had engaged in consensual sex.

On Friday, T, who can't be named due to a publication ban that protects the witnesses, said he was at the house on Wiig Road when the alleged victim, M, and her friend came over.

T said M ran over to Czechowski almost immediately and jumped on his lap, “straddling him.”

Soon, T said M and Czechowski went up to the upstairs bedroom together.

“I heard the noises, I heard her saying 'f*** ya, f*** ya,' specifically," T told the court, "Loud and clear."

When asked by the Crown if the words he heard may have been “f*** you,” T said he had heard the sounds clearly.

T said at one point that morning, Czechowski called him upstairs, because M had reportedly taken Czechowski's purse and threatened to call the police.

“I said, '(M), that's not your purse, that's Jeremy's purse, give it back,'” T testified, but M reportedly refused.

“I went to grab it from her to take it off of her, she pulled back and kicked me several times in the ribs, once in the groin, so I put my head down and I pushed her against the wall by her throat area.”

T said M left the house, acting “delirious,” and he later found her across the street in the doorway of a neighbour's home.

“I said, '(M) get back over here, stop bothering those people,'” T testified.

M went back into the house with T and Czechowski, and T said M went back upstairs with Czechowski. T said he once again began hearing noises from the upstairs bedroom that “sounded like she was enjoying herself,” and then T went to sleep.

In the Crown's cross examination, Angela Ross questioned T about why he took two and a half months to give a statement to police about the night of the alleged rape, despite police requesting a statement several times prior.

“I suggest to you sir that you only came up with that information after talking to your friend Jeremy,” Ross said.

“That's false,” T replied.

M was found by a police officer hiding in a bush near the house on Wiig Road just before 7 a.m. She was covered in bruises and appeared "terrified."

The trial will continue Friday afternoon, and likely into next week.