Rapist found guilty

Photo: Nicholas Johansen

Jeremy Czechowski outside Kelowna Law Courts in February 2018.

Story contains graphic details that may not be suitable for all readers

A 35-year-old West Kelowna man has been found guilty of sexual assault in what the victim described as a violent rape.

Jeremy Czechowski was found guilty Wednesday at Kelowna Law Courts two years after an incident where police found a woman ‘dishevelled and terrified’ in the bushes off Wiig Road.

Justice Kenneth Ball said Wednesday he accepts the evidence the woman did not consent to sex with the accused at any time "and particularly was in no condition to consent to sexual activity after a state of psychosis."

A six-day trial began on Feb. 13, and Ball gave his verdict Wednesday.

Over the six days, court heard testimony from the victim, the victim’s friend, a doctor who examined the victim, several police officers, Czechowski and several of his friends who were present that night.

Ball said one friend's testimony was not credible and his interest in supporting his friend “was far more intense than his interest in giving the court an accurate description” of what he observed that night.

Czechowski shook his head as Ball found him guilty of sexual assault, unlawful confinement, attempting to choke and uttering threats.

The victim said she was violently raped for hours when she and her friend went to a house after attending Sapphire nightclub in Kelowna on Feb. 20, 2016.

The victim's identity is concealed under a publication ban.

Czechowski sent two people to pick up the woman and drive her to a West Kelowna home, where he met M for the first time.

Defence counsel Cory Armour suggested M and Czechowski engaged in consensual sex, even though M testified that he tore off her underwear and raped her.

“I never consented to anything with him, I did not give him consent to touch me,” M told the court.

Ball said there was significant evidence the accused knew M was intoxicated.

“The accused… testified that between the second and third sexual encounters she acted in a bizarre fashion,” said Ball.

A doctor who examined M said she was tearful, distraught and voicing extreme fear the morning she was found.

The KGH examination found two tears in her rectum, bruising on the back of her neck consistent with being restrained from behind, a goose egg on her head, significant bruising on her jaw line and neck, multiple bruises on her knees, three acrylic nails broken off, consistent with self defence, and other injuries.

“On the whole of the evidence, I find that the accused intended to cause bodily harm to M for gratification for sexual impulses," said Ball.

M suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder and has had to move away from Kelowna due to anxiety and fear.

A presentencing report will be conducted July 16.