West Kelowna man convicted of 2016 rape denied parole

Photo: Nicholas Johansen

Jeremy Czechowski

This story contains graphic details of sexual assault that may not be suitable for all readers.

A West Kelowna man who was convicted in 2018 of a violent rape remains behind bars after he was denied parole in September for being a “high risk to re-offend sexually or violently.”

Following a six-day trial in Kelowna court, Jeremy Czechowski was convicted of sexual assault causing bodily harm, unlawful confinement, attempting to choke and uttering threats.

Czechowski maintained he had consensual sex with the victim, referred to as M, but she adamantly testified that she never consented to him touching her. Regardless, Justice Kenneth Ball ruled M was too intoxicated at the time to have given consent.

He was handed a five-year jail sentence in April 2019.

Czechowski appealed his conviction immediately and remained out of custody on bail as a result. While he awaited a decision on his appeal, he was charged again with uttering threats. The Crown unsuccessfully applied to have his bail revoked.

The B.C. Court of Appeal dismissed his appeal in October 2020, and he was taken into custody. But he was released on bail yet again in January 2021 after he took his appeal to the Supreme Court of Canada. Canada's top court dismissed the appeal in March 2021, and Czechowski has remained behind bars ever since.

In September of this year, Czechowski sought day parole or full parole, but the Parole Board of Canada denied both, calling his risk to reoffend “undue.”

Czechowski wanted to either reside at an Okanagan-based halfway house on day parole, or live with a friend in the Okanagan on full parole, where he plans to return to his business in the construction industry.

But in its decision, the Parole Board noted Czechowski maintains a “misogynistic view about women,” and continues to minimize his offence.

“Your lack of emotional regulation and justification for aggression have led to violence and sexually predatory behaviour against women,” the Board stated in its decision. “Your file notes that you display little to no insight and your acceptance of responsibility is superficial and serves to blame the victim, to whom you do not display any level of empathy.”

In a written submission, Czechowski's legal counsel said Czechowski has a right to maintain his “truth” with regards to his rape of M, and notes that Czechowski has a different version of the events on the evening in question.

When asked about whether he takes responsibility for the rape, he told the Parole Board that he's learned that having sex with an intoxicated person who's unable to give consent is illegal. But he denies having confined or choked M during the assault.

“You have consistently denied the offence as described by the victim and neither a court conviction nor your loss on appeal, have served to alter your level of accountability,” the Parole Board states.

A number of psychological assessments have found Czechowski continues to present a risk to the public. While a psychopathy assessment found he did not meet the criteria for psychopathy, he scored close to the threshold.

He was assessed to be at a “high risk for future violent recidivism within the next five to 12 years,” and a “high risk to re-offend sexually or violently on conditional release.” He told the Parole Board that he does not agree with the psychological assessments.

“The Board understood your response to be similar to your previous responses in that if you do not agree to something, rather than give it careful review, you have a tendency to simply dismiss it in its entirety thus failing to learn or gain anything from it,” the Parole Board noted.

As such, the Parole Board denied Czechowski's parole, and he remains behind bars.

During his parole hearing, Czechowski said his charge of uttering threats while on bail stemmed from a friend's girlfriend setting fire to his truck, and Czechowski responding on social media that “it's on.” He told the Parole Board that he had not meant to threaten her safety, and the charge was later dropped.

Czechowski's conviction stems from a February 2016 incident at Czechowski's West Kelowna home. During trial, the court heard how the victim had visited Czechowski's home with a friend after a night of clubbing in downtown Kelowna. M testified they were going to the house to buy cocaine, before heading home. Both M and Czechowski were intoxicated.

M testified Czechowski took her aside and tore off her underwear shortly after she arrived at the home, before he violently raped her in an upstairs bedroom for hours.

“While in the bedroom, the accused pulled off her dress, pushed her onto the bed and began to have anal sex with her,” Justice Kenneth Ball said during Czechowski's sentencing in 2018. “He grabbed her throat and was squeezing hard. She was having difficulty breathing and worried that she would become unconscious."

Over a period of several hours, Czechowski left the room on several occasions, before coming back to the room and forcing M to have unprotected anal sex, two other separate times.

At one point, he threatened to kill her and bury her in his backyard.

After M texted her friend “Help,” at about 6 a.m., her friend called police. An officer found M near Wiig Road and Green Bay Road just before 7 a.m., hiding in a bush.

The officer testified that in his 15 years of service, he'd never seen someone so eager to get in his car.

M suffered head-to-toe bruising and scratches during the attack, along with broken fingernails consistent with self-defence. A doctor who examined M after the attack testified her injuries were “consistent with medical trauma from sexual assault.”

In its recent decision, the Parole Board notes that M continues to suffer from ongoing emotional trauma, close to seven years after the assault.

“The victim speaks to how her life has been dramatically altered since the offence, how she is unable to work and suffers from panic attacks and chronic feelings of anxiety,” the Parole Board states.