Man cleared of charges of confining and sexually assaulting hitchhiker

PENTICTON, B.C. – A 50-year-old man accused of sexually assaulting a woman he picked up hitchhiking in Penticton, B.C., has been acquitted of all charges against him.

Ronald Teneycke (ten-ike) was found not guilty of sexually assaulting and confining a 44-year-old Okanagan woman.

The woman had claimed that during a drug and booze-fuelled day in July of 2011, Teneycke held her against her will at a pump house near Okanagan Falls and sexually assaulted her at knife point.

Teneycke, who had served more than a decade in jail for sex crimes before the incident, said the sexual encounter was consensual.

In his judgment, B.C. Supreme Court Justice James Williams said the woman’s testimony couldn’t be relied on because she was drunk at the time of the incident.

He also said while some of Teneycke’s testimony was unconvincing, the Crown did not meet the burden of proof for a conviction. (CKOR,Global)