Groping incident recalled by fire chief ’s friend

A former member of the Fort St. James fire department recalled a groping incident involving the chief and a female volunteer firefighter during testimony Friday at the Prince George courthouse.

Robert Harold Bennett came up to Lisa Button from behind, reached underneath her right arm and briefly grabbed her breast “and then quickly sort of scooted away and laughed,” Mark Rivard testified.

Button is one of three women volunteers Bennett is accused of sexually assaulting.

Rivard said the act occurred in the fire hall’s truck bay while he was only a few feet away but other than to say it happened sometime between 2009 and 2012, could not recall a specific date.

“I was shocked, I was speechless,” Rivard said when asked for his response.

Rivard described himself as a friend of Bennett.

Rivard said they knew each other from when the two were paramedics in Vancouver and he decided to join the fire department in Fort St. James in 2004 because Bennett was the chief by the time Rivard had moved to the community himself.

Rivard said Bennett initially did an excellent job as chief but after about two to three years, his performance began to deteriorate as his drinking became more frequent. “It was very progressive,” Rivard said. Rivard said there was “absolutely” drinking and socializing among the members, usually after practice and sometimes after calls, with a large case of beer opened in the middle of the truck bay.

He said comments filled with inappropriate although light-hearted sexual innuendo became the norm.

“It just kind of flew around, it was commonplace,” Rivard said.

Rivard said Button responded to Bennett’s grab by flipping his hand away while telling him to “f--- off” in an angry tone. After that, they just went about their business, he testified.

Asked about any contact between Bennett and Kirsten Rudolph, another of the women he is accused of groping, Rivard said he recalled seeing Bennett flipping or tugging on Rudolph’s ponytail a few times.

Although it seemed to be in good humour, Rivard said Rudolph appeared more confrontational during the last few times when she responded with an expletive.

“It was kind of with a smile, but clearly it’s getting a little old,” Rivard said.

Rivard was also asked to recall a night in April 2013 when Bennett showed up to a fire department meeting “very intoxicated.”

“He staggered into the meeting, he couldn’t walk a straight line, there was a lot of mumbling and wasn’t completing sentences,” Rivard said.

“He made an attempt to address the crew but his thoughts were incomplete and he slurred and so on.”

As the group went downstairs after the meeting ended, Bennett tripped at the top of the stairs and another member pinned him against the wall to keep him from falling. Rivard said Bennett’s keys were hidden from him and he agreed to drive Bennett home.

When Rivard decided it was time for him to leave, he went looking for Bennett and was told he and Joy Rierson, the third woman Bennett is accused of sexually assaulting, had gone upstairs to the radio room.

Rivard went upstairs but found the door locked, which he said was normal when the room was not occupied. When he went back downstairs to ask for Bennett’s whereabouts again, others insisted he went to the radio room, so Rivard went back up once more.

This time, Rivard said he listened for a voice and when he heard a man speaking, he knocked on the door and Bennett answered a few seconds later, holding onto the door to steady himself.

Despite his urging, Rivard said Bennett insisted he wanted to stay. When he looked across the room, Rivard said he saw Rierson at the far wall and leaning against a table and she “seemed fine.”

“As a matter of fact, Rob and I had some discussions around getting home safely and I thumped the table and Ms. Rierson then volunteered to take him home,” Rivard said.

During an opening statement, Crown prosecutor Cheryl Tobias told the sevenman, five-woman jury it’s expected Rierson will testify Bennett made sexual advances on her in the radio room and had pinned her to the wall and floor before being interrupted by a knock on the door by two firefighters.

The trial continues Monday.