Victim recalls violent assault by co-worker

“No one should ever have to wake up covered in blood.”

In Ontario Court of Justice in St. Catharines on Thursday, a young woman recalled the terror of being attacked while she slept and how the traumatic experience continues to haunt her.

“No 26-year-old should have to sleep with the light on,” she told Judge Peter Wilkie. “I am terrified of the dark.”

On Feb. 17, 2017, court heard, a man entered the bedroom of her St. Catharines apartment and threw an old-style tube television on top of her head.

The terrified woman wrapped herself in a blanket and screamed as she was stomped about the arms and back.

Her attacker then trashed the apartment and fled, leaving behind a tire iron.

The victim told police she didn’t see the person who attacked her but believed it was her co-worker Chad Rivet.

In court Thursday, Rivet pleaded guilty to break and enter and commit assault. He is scheduled to return to court Jan. 9 for sentencing.

Rivet, 23, and the victim were both employed at a local call centre.

Assistant Crown attorney Jacqueline Strecansky said the duo had met socially several times and the defendant had attempted to kiss the woman, who rejected his advances.

Rivet was later arrested on an unrelated matter and believed his co-worker was somehow responsible for his arrest.

What followed was a campaign of intimidation, Strecansky said, with the defendant calling the woman a “rat” and a “whore” at work.

On New Year’s Eve, he sent her a series of threatening texts such as “snitches get stitches” and “2017 will be the worst year of your life” and “a rude awakening is coming.”

The assault left the woman badly bruised and with a laceration to her head that required several staples to close.