Curled up in a ball, blood streaming down her face, a young woman descended into "complete blackness" as she was attacked by Cory Bitternose in July, 2008, she told court Monday.
The woman, whose identity is protected by a publication ban, read aloud an emotional victim impact statement via CCTV on the opening day of a dangerous offender hearing for Bitternose.
In the statement, she described the fear, powerlessness and revulsion she felt as Bitternose beat her.
She and a friend had been out that evening and were heading home when Bitternose picked them up. He soon began attacking them and her friend fled to find help.
The other woman was taken into some bushes and sexually assaulted. She described how her cellphone rang and Bitternose threw it against a tree, smashing it.
"I thought, ‘This is it. My life is over,’" the woman told the court.
"I just wanted to be left there to die."
Her physical injuries since the attack have healed, but the mental anguish continues, the woman said, through tears.
"Some days I just cry uncontrollably," she said, describing her struggles with shame over what happened and how difficult it is to describe her feelings even to those closest to her.
She said she doesn’t know if she’ll move past what happened, but added she hoped her statement gave some courage to other assaulted and battered women.
Bitternose, 40, pleaded guilty last spring to two counts of kidnapping, sexual assault causing bodily harm, assault and uttering threats in relation to the July, 2008 attack on two women in Banff. That incident is one of a string of offences the Crown says should lead to a dangerous offender designation for Bitternose.
On Monday, the other woman attacked in Banff described the heart-pounding terror she felt when Cory Bitternose assaulted her in the back of a truck.
The woman described what happened July 12, 2008, as "one of the most terrifying moments I have ever experienced."
She leaped out of the back seat of the truck and hit the horn to attract attention. When she escaped, Bitternose chased after her with the truck. Since then, she has replayed the scenario over and over in her head, the woman said.
"Cory Bitternose took that feeling of safety and security away from me," she said, reading aloud a victim impact statement.
The woman also described the strength she has drawn on since the attack, and the support she’s received from family, friends and the community.
Bitternose sat in the prisoner’s dock, leaning forward and looking down throughout the testimony.
In opening statements, Crown Prosecutor Joanne Durant said she’ll lay out a case showing Bitternose’s actions fit the criteria of a dangerous offender designation and he should be jailed indefinitely.
"If brutal can be described as a woman’s worst nightmare, then, with respect, we’ve got it," she said.
Durant said she’ll call several of Bitternose’s most recent victims, including a Calgary woman whose home was broken into in July, 2008 and another woman who suffered a fractured skull and lifelong injuries after she met Bitternose in a Calgary washroom 20 years ago.
Durant said the designation is important "to ensure there are no more victims like them – or survivors, as they prefer to be called in the future."
Durant said Bitternose has had access to several treatments and therapies, both in and out of jail.
She said Bitternose represents a significant risk to commit serious offences in the future and should be jailed indefinitely.
He would have access to regular parole hearings and to treatment, she noted.
The hearing is scheduled to last for a week and will resume April 4, 2011.
Bitternose’s mother has previously expressed sorrow for the victims, but says her son doesn’t deserve dangerous offender status.
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