Former fire chief targeted in courtroom outburst

One of the three women alleging they were sexually assaulted while they were members of the Fort St. James volunteer fire department issued an emotional outburst during testimony Tuesday. “I hate you!,” a tearful and sobbing Joy Reierson yelled as she glared at Robert Harold Bennett.

The court was then cleared for a brief period to give Reierson time to calm herself down before continuing to provide an account of an incident she said occurred one night in April 2013.

Reierson said she had just finished chairing a meeting of the department’s charity wing in an upstairs room at the department’s main hall when Bennett asked if he could talk to her for a couple of minutes. Reierson said she agreed and they went into what she described as “junk room” where they sat at a desk by a window.

Thinking they were going to talk about items from the meeting, she opened a folder she had been carrying. Instead, she said Bennett started talking about his wife and a difficult pregnancy she was going through.

As Reierson tried to turn the conversation back to business, a fellow firefighter, Mark Rivard knocked on the door and asked if everything was all right. Reierson said it was, the court was told, and Rivard left.

She said Bennett had locked the door when they first entered the room and after unlocking it to answer Rivard, locked it once again. When she heard the lock click, Reierson said she knew something was wrong.

Reierson said Bennett returned to his chair and resumed talking about his wife, then tried to give one of her feet a massage. She begged him off and tried to provide some emotional support, the court heard.

“I said ‘no, we’re not going there,’” Reierson said. “I said ‘you’ve got a wife, you’ve got kids, if you want to talk about stuff, we’ll talk about stuff. We’re there for each other, sometimes I’ve got a crappy day, you’ve got a crappy day.”

As Bennett took a drink out of a can of beer he had brought with him, Reierson said she tried to make a break for the door but was stopped.

“And he kissed me and he kissed me hard and I said ‘no, we’re not doing this, we’re not going there,’” Reierson said. “And he told me ‘you want it, you really want it, your boyfriend won’t give it to you.’”

She said Bennett went on to push her against the wall. Seeing an opportunity to get away, Reierson said she darted down but ended up lying on the floor with Bennett, who she said smelled like beer, on top of her.

— see ‘HE HAD, page 2

Seeing an opportunity to get away, Reierson said she darted down but ended up lying on the floor with Bennett, who she said smelled like beer, on top of her.