One of the Okanagan’s most notorious criminals has been locked up indefinitely.
Ronald Teneycke, 55, received an indefinite sentence Thursday in Penticton court while being labelled a dangerous offender.
“In light of Mr. Teneycke’s 35-year record of committing violent criminal offences,” Judge Richard Hewson said. “I can only conclude Mr. Teneycke is not inhabited by normal standards of behavioural constraint, so future acts of violence can quite confidently be expected of him.”
He said the possibility of rehabilitating Teneycke doesn't even start to approach "the expression of hope."
Teneycke was last arrested in 2015 following a violent crime spree that saw him rob a gas station at gunpoint, and shoot a man that picked him up hitchhiking. The crimes happened while he was out of jail on an intermittent sentence.
The victim of that shooting, Wayne Belleville, voiced elation at the decision outside the courthouse Thursday.
“It’s the best case scenario, he was given the harshest penalty available, and it's exactly what he deserved.”
Belleville says he is relieved the whole ordeal is over, “his 15 minutes of infamy are now over, and I look forward to never hearing his name again.”
Teneycke has 37 previous convictions for offences including sexual assault with a weapon, forcible confinement and uttering threats, in connection to the rape of an Okanagan teenager in 1993.
"After he shot me, I asked him, why did you kill me — because I thought I was going to die — and he goes 'I'm a dangerous offender, I've got nothing to lose,'" Belleville said. "He's determined that himself long before."
Diagnosed with lymphoma, Hepatitis C, diabetes and gout, Teneycke had trouble keeping himself awake during the decision, appearing to nod off multiple times.