Woman testifies she was locked inside closet between assaults
An Edmonton woman testified Wednesday that she was locked in a closet for days while being repeatedly sexually and physically assaulted by a man alleged to have kidnapped and extorted her.
Ryan Raymond Dechambre, 30, is on trial for a series of charges related to the abduction and weeklong captivity of a woman in July 2016.
The 52-year-old woman, whose identity is protected by a courtordered publication ban, was walking to a north Edmonton home where she was staying at about 2:30 a.m. on July 20, 2016, when she said Dechambre pulled up next to her in a grey car.
After agreeing to trade sex for money, she got in the car and Dechambre insisted on driving to Rundle Park. As he drove to the end of the road of the park, she became frightened.
After he walked her to a more secluded area, she said she knew he wouldn’t be paying her and she just wanted to get it over with.
They had sex, and then things turned violent, according to the woman.
She said Dechambre dragged her over to a bench, slapped her and sexually assaulted her.
The woman can’t see much without her glasses, and Dechambre made her take them off.
“He said from here on out I’m going to do whatever he wants when he wanted,” she said.
He then put her coat over her head and put her in his car and started to drive, eventually arriving at a residence.
Inside, she was made to take off all her clothes and get in the tub. She said she has a hard time remembering some aspects of the ordeal because he gave her cold medicine and pills. She said he assaulted her on his bed, and then locked her still naked in a closet that was too narrow for her to lie down or stretch out her legs.
She said she was sexually assaulted about 10 times by Dechambre during the week she was held captive. He would bring her out of the closet to carry out the assaults, and make her massage him while he fell asleep, she said.
She said he also threatened and abused her, holding a knife to her throat and beating and tying her with an electrical cord.
He later locked her in a second, larger closet and put a fan, some blankets and a bottle of water inside with her.
She said she was abducted on a Tuesday, and it wasn’t until Thursday that he gave her a piece of pizza and some carrots.
On the fourth day, Dechambre made her wash his walls, clean the bathroom and vacuum.
At one point, the woman said she heard Dechambre’s girlfriend shouting at him from outside the house.
She said she listened as Dechambre called the police and asked them to come remove his girlfriend. When officers arrived, they never came inside.
Finally, a week after she had been abducted, she said Dechambre drove her to a branch of her bank in St. Albert and had her withdraw more than $1,000. She said she tried to leave about $25 in the account, but he made her go back and get it out of the bank’s ATM.
He then dropped her off at a street corner, she said, after she agreed to his proposal that she work the streets until she had made him $10,000. He made her leave her identification and health-care cards with him when she got out.
“I just wanted to get away from him, so I agreed to whatever he said,” she said.
When he drove off, she went directly to her friend’s house and called the police.
The woman is expected to continue testifying Thursday when the trial resumes.
He said from here on out I’m going to do whatever he wants when he wanted.