A woman testified on Monday that she awoke with her sleeping granddaughter next to her to find a stranger standing at the foot of her bed saying he would stab her if she didn’t have sex with him.
The woman, who testified in a calm manner with a steady voice throughout her more than two hours on the stand, picked the accused Dustin Gladue, 24, out of a 10-person photo lineup presented to her about two hours after the ordeal.
Gladue is charged with sexual assault, with a weapon and uttering threats in the April 12, 2008, incident at a Red Deer condominium complex.
The woman, in her late 40s, told Red Deer Court of Queen’s Bench Justice Kirk Sisson that a loud noise at her door woke her at about 2:10 a.m.
She told Crown prosecutor Jason Snider that she first thought it was her son coming home.
However, she saw the accused at the foot of her bed holding what she thought was a 30-cm knife above his head.
“He said, ‘Get up I’m going to stab you,’ ” she testified.
She said they went outside to a bench area, where the accused dropped his pants and demanded sex.
The woman said she managed to get a couple of good looks at the man’s face and could tell he was aboriginal or Métis.
She said he had a scar or mark on the side of his face and was 23 to 25 years old.
The woman said lighting was good, from a light on nearby buildings and power poles, as well as possibly the moon.
The woman ultimately ran to a nearby residence shouting and banging on the door as the accused fled.
She stuck to her testimony when questioned by defence lawyer Rick Wyrozub, who is from Ponoka.
“From your testimony you seem to be sure he had a scar,” Wyrozub asked.
“I fixed on his face. I remember pretty clearly there was something on his face,” the woman said.
“At some moments, I got a good glimpse of his face,” she added.
Cpl. Terrill Cromie of city RCMP was first on scene.
He testified that shortly after talking to the victim, he received word that another officer had arrested a suspect in a nearby alley.
A pointed, thin stick of 25 to 30 cm in length was found on the ground.
Gladue has been in custody since the incident.
jwilson@www.reddeeradvocate.com