SASKATOON — Closing arguments were heard in the trial of Joseph Yaremko, who is charged with sexual assault with a weapon and forcible confinement.
Yaremko is accused of forcibly entering a woman's condo and sexually assaulting her multiple times. The woman was 21 at the time.
The incident allegedly occurred in the 100 block of Wellman Crescent in the Stonebridge neighbourhood on June 3, 2019.
Crown prosecutor Evan Thompson started his closing arguments by telling Judge Naheed Bardai Yaremko has had a “lifetime of dishonest acts” and his credibility should be questioned.
Thompson says 19 times in the transcript Yarmeko had to be directed by court to listen to the question being asked as he sought to avoid answering questions during the trial.
The Crown alleges Yaremko made an extensive false statement to a constable the night he was arrested saying he had been in a relationship with the woman, calling it the “best lie he could think of at the time.”
Thompson told the court it should have “worries” about his credibility citing the stories he told the constable about dating the woman couldn’t be maintained and taking things that happened and turning them into “his own story.”
NIGHT OF THE INCIDENT
The courtroom watched a brief security video of Yaremko entering the building where the woman lived because he was “desperately” trying to avoid police, the Crown said.
Another security video showed Yaremko trying to enter random doors on the second floor of the building, until he eventually found the woman's suite.
Once inside, the Crown says Yaremko choked the woman with his hand, throwing her onto a bed and threated her with sexual violence telling her he had a knife and gesturing towards his hip.
He then went on to sexually assault her and forced her to smoke drugs, the crown said.
The following morning Yaremko was on the couch and the woman left to go to work, telling Yaremko it would be suspicious if she didn’t show up. She later called police and Yaremko was arrested while still in the apartment, the Crown says,
REPRESENTING HIMSELF
Yaremko was found to be sitting in the defense’s chair instead of the prisoner box. On Tuesday, Bardai approved his defense lawyer’s request to withdraw counsel citing “ethical reasons”, leaving him to represent himself.
During his short closing argument, he told the courtroom he was in his underwear the next morning and the knife that was found was in the couch, posing the question of how he could have it on him.
He also says he never forced the woman into doing drugs. Yaremko alleges the woman wanted to stay in the apartment as she didn’t want to be left alone.
The Crown rose in the middle of Yaremko’s argument to tell the courtroom some of the information he was sharing wasn’t evidence.
To further clarify, Bardai told Yaremko he could only make a decision based on facts presented by witnesses in the trial and what he can verify.
The trial will continue for the decision date on Dec. 23.
