A Saskatoon judge has the choice to accept the testimony of a woman without a motive to lie about sexual assault or a man incapable of being believed, a Crown prosecutor argued on the final day of the Joseph Yaremko trial.
Yaremko is accused of unlawful confinement, along with break and enter and commit sexual assault with a weapon related to the events of June 3, 2019. Surveillance video shows Yaremko entering the woman’s apartment suite.
“Wherever there is independent evidence on a key point it seems to contradict Mr. Yaremko,” Thompson said during closing arguments Friday.
The prosecutor described the incident as a “nightmare scenario,” where a 21-year-old woman was in her Stonebridge apartment suite, preparing to watch TV, when she heard a knock at her door.
The complainant, who Thompson described as a “tremendously impressive witness,” testified that Yaremko pushed his way through her doorway and into her suite. Court heard he wanted to get away from police who were nearby.
The Crown alleged that the suspect locked the door behind him, before choking the victim and throwing her onto the bed. Summarizing the woman’s testimony, Thompson said Yaremko “threatened her with graphic, sexual violence” unless she smoked drugs with him.
At trial, she gave “clear, compelling evidence. She’d never done drugs before,” the prosecutor said.
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The woman said Yaremko claimed to have a knife and a gun. She was sexually assaulted multiple times, according to the Crown.
She left the suite the following morning, promising Yaremko she’d come back. Instead, she called Saskatoon police who arrested the suspect at the apartment.
During trial, the woman said it wasn’t consensual sex. On the stand in his own defence, Yaremko contended there was consent.
Thompson argued Yaremko’s 100-plus criminal convictions are evidence of his “lifetime of dishonest acts.”
During his submissions, Thompson argued Yaremko operated under “two different, inconsistent versions of reality.” He said the first version occurred during his June 4, 2019 police statement and the second version played out during trial.
In his initial statement, Yaremko said he and the complainant knew each other prior to the alleged sexual assault. He recalled spending time together a day before the date in question. However, Thompson stated those experiences happened with a different woman.
“This was a deliberate attempt by Mr. Yaremko to take things that happened before … and sew them into a narrative,” Thompson argued.
The other women testified during trial, and Thompson said that prompted Yaremko to change his story. The accused said he and the woman had dated.
“That was the best lie he could think of at that time,” the Crown argued.
After his lawyer withdrew herself from the case, Yaremko represented himself during closing arguments. His submissions lasted about eight minutes compared to roughly an hour from the Crown.
“I don’t have the experience or knowledge you all possess,” Yaremko stated in court. “I’d just like to remind you my liberty and freedom are at stake.”
During his arguments, he accused the complainant of acting “irrationally,” saying on multiple occasions she could have left through the door or balcony of the suite.
“She never asked me to just leave,” he said.
Yaremko argued that a knife police believe was involved in the incident was actually found in a couch. He told court that the woman said it must have belonged to her brother or one of his friends.
He also asked why the woman didn’t scream or cry for help when she saw the shadows of people walking past her front door.
He argued his testimony lined up better with the facts than that of the complainant.
Justice Naheed Bardai is scheduled to deliver his verdict on Dec. 23.
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