Landlord ‘raped me, threw me out’: tenant
A tenant at the Northwoods Inn & Suites in Saskatoon says the motel’s owner offered her a place to stay in exchange for sex and then raped her when she ultimately refused.
The woman testified that her landlord, John Viveiros Pontes, knew she was short on rent money and desperate for a place to live when he brought her into his motel suite on June 1, 2017.
She told the court she initially convinced herself to give Pontes what he wanted. But when she changed her mind and tried to leave, she said he told her “You’re not going f------ anywhere,” held her down and raped her.
Pontes, 74, is charged with two counts of sexual assault, two counts of extortion and one count of uttering a death threat against two women.
The women were scheduled to testify, but Judge Morris Baniak separated the charges into two trials after hearing from Pontes’ lawyer, Patrick Fagan.
Pontes was also charged with another count of sexual assault and obtaining sexual service for consideration against a third woman. The charges were stayed because the woman is now deceased, court heard.
A court-ordered publication ban protects the identities of sexual assault complainants.
The first woman testified on Monday that Pontes groped her breasts in a backroom of the motel after she brought him a rent cheque and begged him to let her stay until she could get more money.
She said Pontes told her she could keep her room if she had sex with him that night.
“I had nowhere else to go,” the woman said, crying.
She told court she later met Pontes in the motel lobby and he “snuck” her past security guards and into his room. The woman said she got undressed but changed her mind when Pontes came out of the bathroom in his underwear, so she started getting dressed.
Pontes pushed her onto the bed, forced her legs open and penetrated her, she said. Later she asked Pontes if they could finish the next day, left the motel and had a rape kit done the next day.
During cross-examination, Fagan pointed out that the woman called police after Pontes refused to return her partial rent money.
“He (raped) me, then just threw me out,” she said.
Pontes is expected to testify when the trial resumes Tuesday.