Shea Robert Gardecki didn’t confess to his alleged crimes and there wasn’t any physical evidence linking him to the scene of the sexual assaults, such as fingerprints or DNA, but there was the testimony of the alleged victims.
Two young woman were napping together in a Kelowna townhouse in August 2016, having fallen asleep after watching a movie.
They said they awoke to find a stranger between them, under the covers, who was touching them sexually.
One of the women told the jury: “I started feeling something on the back of my legs…gradually all the way up…up to my genitals.”
When she asked the smiling man what he was doing, she testified he replied: “I’m here with a friend and pointed to the couch which was empty. I said ‘no you’re not’. Then I said ‘you need to leave.'”
The man did leave, and shortly afterwards in the near vicinity of the townhouse, Gardecki was arrested with the assistance of a police dog.
He was charged with two counts of sexual assault and one count of breaking and entering with the intent to commit sexual assault.
In the court room, one of the victims pointed out Gardecki as the man who had been touching her.
But that eye-witness identification and some circumstantial evidence wasn’t enough to convince the jury the right man had been charged.
After an eight day trial and a day of deliberations, Gardecki was acquitted of all three offenses.
As is his right, the West Kelowna resident declined to take the witness stand to testify in his own defence.
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