A trial has begun for a Prince George man who was the subject of a police manhunt in March and is accused of stabbing and sexually assaulting two women and sexually assaulting and kidnapping a third woman.
Chad Douglas Berry, 28, is being tried by judge alone and faces 31 charges that also include several counts of break and enter and possession of stolen property and one count of theft over $5,000 in relation to a stolen truck with camper.
Prosecuting lawyer Shannon Keyes, who gave an opening statement Friday, will argue Berry stabbed and sexually assaulted the two women in the basement suite of an Oak Street home sometime in the early morning of March 11.
Berry was to have then left the scene and then broken into a Moyie Street home a short distance away where he was to have sexually assaulted a woman there before forcing her and another person in the house to drive him to Cluculz Lake.
At that site, Berry was to have broken into several homes and stole a pickup truck with a camper the he and the woman drove west along Highway 16 to the Bobtail Forest Service Road near Vanderhoof where it broke down.
Berry was able to get a ride from a truck driver to Bednesti Lake Resort, the court was told, where he was to have stolen some foodstuffs and then a ride back to the camper.
Vanderhoof RCMP were called to the scene at Bobtail by a truck driver who noticed the camper and a woman in distress. A check of the licence plate determined the truck was stolen and inside they found Berry, who was arrested without incident, and the woman roughly 24 hours after the incident on Oak Street.
The trial, being heard before Judge Ron Tindale, is expected to take several days, with four days of court time booked next week, followed by dates in February and August.
