One of the three women alleging they were sexually assaulted while they were members of the Fort St. James volunteer fire department issued an emotional outburst during testimony Tuesday.
"I hate you!," a tearful and sobbing Joy Reierson yelled as she glared at Robert Harold Bennett.
The court was then cleared for a brief period to give Reierson time to calm herself down before continuing to provide an account of an incident she said occurred one night in April 2013.
Reierson said she had just finished chairing a meeting of the department's charity wing in an upstairs room at the department's main hall when Bennett asked if he could talk to her for a couple of minutes. Reierson said she agreed and they went into what she described as "junk room" where they sat at a desk by a window.
Thinking they were going to talk about items from the meeting, she opened a folder she had been carrying. Instead, she said Bennett started talking about his wife and a difficult pregnancy she was going through.
As Reierson tried to turn the conversation back to business, a fellow firefighter, Mark Rivard knocked on the door and asked if everything was all right. Reierson said it was, the court was told, and Rivard left.
She said Bennett had locked the door when they first entered the room and after unlocking it to answer Rivard, locked it once again. When she heard the lock click, Reierson said she knew something was wrong.
Reierson said Bennett returned to his chair and resumed talking about his wife, then tried to give one of her feet a massage. She begged him off and tried to provide some emotional support, the court heard.
"I said 'no, we're not going there,'" Reierson said. "I said 'you've got a wife, you've got kids, if you want to talk about stuff, we'll talk about stuff. We're there for each other, sometimes I've got a crappy day, you've got a crappy day."
As Bennett took a drink out of a can of beer he had brought with him, Reierson said she tried to make a break for the door but was stopped.
"And he kissed me and he kissed me hard and I said 'no, we're not doing this, we're not going there,'" Reierson said. "And he told me 'you want it, you really want it, your boyfriend won't give it to you.'"
She said Bennett went on to push her against the wall. Seeing an opportunity to get away, Reierson said she darted down but ended up lying on the floor with Bennett, who she said smelled like beer, on top of her.
As Bennett continued to tell her "you want it, you really want it," Reierson tried to reason with him, the court heard, reminding him about the cost of child support should his marriage be ended over what he was doing.
By that time, Bennett's penis was out, the court was told.
"He had my wrists, he went to grab for my belt... there was a knock at the door," Reierson said as she fought back tears. Apparently enough to stop Bennett, Reierson said he had better "put himself back together" before answering the door.
"I got up, I acted like it was no big deal, it was a big deal," Reierson said and then yelled at Bennett as he sat in the accused box.
Reierson continued her testimony after the break.
"Oh, my god, I was so happy," she said about hearing the knock. Reierson said two other firefighers - Don Fraser and John Bennison - were at the door and once it was opened, she said she left quickly but kept herself under control as she made her way down the stairs.
Once at the bottom, Reierson said she looked up and saw Fraser and Bennison help Bennett down the stairs. She went outside to her SUV only to see Bennett hop into the passenger side.
Earlier in the trial, Rivard testified that Bennett was extremely drunk and his keys were hidden on him so he wouldn't drive home. Rivard had agreed to take Bennett home but when he went to find him - tracking him down to the radio room where he found Bennett with Reierson - Bennett said he wanted to stay. When Rivard asked Reierson if she was OK, she said yes and had volunteered to take Bennett home.
Reierson agreed she had offered to take Bennett home but by the time they were about to leave, she no longer wanted to do so. She said Bennett had locked the door but she was able to roll down her window and tell the other two as much and Bennett was "bodily" removed from her vehicle.
Reierson said she returned home and didn't tell her boyfriend the story, worried he would make it an issue because he had been cheated on in a past relationship.
"He asked if everything was all right and I said 'you bet' and I went and had a shower," Reierson said.
Reierson said she continued to keep the incident to herself, worried Bennett's marriage would be ruined and that she would lose her position at the fire department if she told anyone. She also worried no one would believe her.
"He's the fire chief, everyone in the community loved him," Reierson said.
Only when the two other complainants - Kirsten Rudolph and Lisa Button - approached her in July 2013 did she begin to tell her story, simply limiting her comments to saying Bennett did something inappropriate. Later the same month, she gave a full statement to the RCMP.
During cross-examination, David Tarnow raised discrepancies between Reierson's testimony on Tuesday and what she told the court during a previous trial on the matter and her statement to police.
During the first trial, Reierson testified Bennett initially put his hand on her hand rather than her foot, and had told police he put his hand on her leg, the court heard. Tarnow also noted she told police Bennett had tried to kiss her, rather than kissed her hard like she said Tuesday.
Tarnow also pressed Reierson on the time it took for her to tell anyone. Reierson agreed she went to the fire hall the next day and sent a card to Bennett and his wife when their twins were born.
He also questioned Reierson's concern that her boyfriend would kick her out of her own house if he had found out she had almost been raped because his ex-wife had cheated on him.
"That's just preposterous, with respect," Tarnow said. "You didn't tell your boyfriend because nothing happened to you. Isn't that true?"
"Incorrect, sir," Reierson replied.
The trial continues Wednesday.
