PENTICTON — Wayne Belleville’s voice started to shake as he recalled how a decision to pick up a hitchhiker ended with him fleeing for his life.
The man in Belleville’s passenger seat was Ronald Teneycke, a prolific offender who was on the lam for a month last summer.
READ MORE: Prolific offender still at large
Belleville said despite seeing photos of Teneycke, he couldn’t recognize him.
“The person that I picked up was weak and feeble and didn’t look like any pictures that I had seen of him,” he says.
Once he realized who it was, he tried to flee, taking the key out of the ignition and running out of his vehicle. But Teneycke shot him in the back.
He believes he could’ve died had a passing vehicle not slowed down.
“I only spent five minutes with him and he irrevocably changed my life.”
Teneycke has also claimed responsibility for robbing a store in Oliver. Fortunately, no one was injured in the robbery.
“It was a little blurry but from what I remember, he pulled out the gun but he didn’t point it at me, he produced the gun and had it in his hand. That was his way of getting things,” said Cassie Clarke, the owner of Eastside, in an interview with Global Okanagan in July 2015.
Teneycke was arrested with a police take down in a Cawston orchard on July 24, 2015. He’s been in custody ever since.
On Thursday, Tenecyke pleaded guilty to four of the nine charges stemming from those crimes, including: robbery, using a firearm to disfigure or wound, and flight from a peace officer.
The Crown is seeking a dangerous or long-term offender designation, saying Teneycke has a lengthy criminal record and there’s a high chance that he may reoffend, posing a risk to the community.
An assessment report has been ordered to see if the Crown can apply for any of those designations.
The matter is back in court on June 8.