A new trial for a former Fort St. James fire chief began Tuesday with one of the women he is accused of groping alleging increasingly drunken and brazen behaviour during the last few years she was a member of the community's volunteer fire department.
"At the end of my tenure, he would show up to practice intoxicated to the point where he couldn't stand up without assistance," Kirsten Rudolph said of Robert Harold Bennett. "He was drunk all the time."
Coinciding with that, Rudolph said Bennett's jokes and jibes became more coarse and sexually pointed. Bennett "got much bolder, the more beer he had in him," Rudolph told the court.
"When he was sober, he was reasonably reserved although there was still the sexual comments and the telling of his sexual exploits but as he would imbibe and drink beer and become more intoxicated the sexual comments, the invitations to have sex with him in his office would increase," Rudolph said.
She said Bennett developed a habit of playing with her ponytail while making suggestive comments. Rudolph said she would respond with expletives and tell him to go home to his wife.
In summer 2010, she said, Bennett grabbed her from behind and rubbed his groin against her buttocks.
She said the act occurred as she was pulling hoses out of the box of a pickup truck parked outside the hall. Although there were many people at the fire hall, Rudolph said they were spread out doing various jobs away from the scene.
"He said 'oh we could do it right here,'" Rudolph testified. "And my response was to grab one of the hoses to hit him with it, and I believe I said something along the lines of 'f--- off, I don't think so.'"
A second incident occurred in late 2010, Rudolph told the court, when she and another woman were sitting on the back of a fire truck following a practice or event.
Rudolph said a drunken Bennett commented on the shape of their breasts and then walked up and grabbed those of her colleague and then hers.
Rudolph said she replied with an expletive, "and he just giggled and someone else at that point came in and he wandered off and continued to drink beer. And we just looked at each other like what the hell just happened?"
In early 2011, she said Bennett smiled and giggled then grabbed her crotch while they crossed paths at the hall. She responded by grabbing his crotch and squeezing and telling him to never do that again.
Following that, Rudolph said her attendance began to decline and in 2012 she took three months off, ostensibly to concentrate on her business but really because she did not want to be there.
By January 2013, she had returned but took pains to avoid Bennett as much as possible. She said Bennett continued to play with her ponytail but was not as aggressive and would not try to grab her buttocks or anything else.
But in July, Rudolph said she was sitting in the common area at the hall with fellow members when a drunk and belligerent Bennett walked in and began berating everyone.
After grabbing a beer from a six pack sitting on a table, Rudolph said Bennett noticed a braid coming out from the back of her ball cap and pulled it back. Because of two fused vertebrae in the back of her neck, Rudolph said it was particularly painful.
As she grabbed the back of her neck, Rudolph said Bennett leaned into her and told her he wanted to have sex with her in his office. She said Bennett reached around to grab her breasts and she moved her hands forward to stop him.
She said one of the other firefighters leaned forward and told her that if she had enough of this, to let them know. Rudolph replied that she was fine but in the following days went to the municipal office and the RCMP to file complaints and make statements.
Under cross-examination, defence lawyer Jason Tarnow questioned Rudolph's claim that Bennett always initiated the sexual comments and she only responded. Tarnow pointed to a statement Rudolph made during the previous trial over the allegations that suggested otherwise.
Rudolph replied that she made the comment "are you looking for a piece of tail" only after Bennett began playing with her hair without her permission and only as a way to ward him off. According to the statement, Rudolph followed up by telling him "go home to your wife." She said simply telling him to f--- off didn't seem to work.
It was the first time the jury had heard there had been a previous trial on the matter. B.C. Supreme Court Justice Heather Holmes told the jury refrain from speculating on the outcome of that trial.
The cross-examination continues Wednesday at the Prince George courthouse.
