An escort who was called to a Salmon River Road property and 鈥渞un over鈥� with an ATV gave her statement in Supreme Court Monday.
The woman was the first witness called to the high-profile trial of Curtis Sagmoen. The North Okanagan man faces two charges of assault that allegedly took place near Falkland in August 2017.
While the trial was expected to last five days, Crown counsel anticipates it will be wrapped up by lunch time Tuesday.
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Much of Monday was spent hearing from an Okanagan escort, who said she was hit from behind by an ATV, flipping her over it and landing face first.
The woman said her services were requested for three or four hours on Aug. 10, 2017, which she said would cost approximately $900-1,200.
When she went to the property, no one was home. She described the property as 鈥渟ketchy鈥� with 鈥淣o Trespassing鈥� and 鈥淜eep Out鈥� signs.
鈥淚 was uncomfortable so I backed out of there,鈥� said the woman whose identity is protected by a publication ban.
She said she saw an ATV go by and texted the client, who said it was him and asked her to follow him down to a creek. Not able to get her car down the narrow path, she was asked to walk down and grab a bottle from the back of his ATV.
She did and was offered a drink, which she refused.
鈥淗e pretended to have a sip and put it in his pocket and said it was a sipping booze.鈥�
She was asked for her services, but declined at the edge of the creek because she had not yet been paid, which is normal in her business.
He asked her to follow him up a dirt road to his house, but her car got stuck so they continued up in the ATV. At one point they stopped and feeling uneasy about the situation, she asked to be brought back to her car.
She told the court room the man pretended like the ATV would not start, so she told him she would walk back down the hill.
鈥淚 knew his quad didn鈥檛 break down but he was pretending like it had broke down.鈥�
While walking, she heard the quad start up and moved to the edge of the road to let it pass.
鈥淚nstead of going by me, he hit me square from behind. He hit me so hard I flipped over him.鈥�
While she is thankful she didn鈥檛 lose consciousness, she says she suffered a concussion, a broken tail bone, road rash up the back of her legs, many bruises and a lump on the back of her head.
鈥淚 just remember hearing the crack when the quad hit the back of my head,鈥� she said.
When she stood up, he seemed 鈥渟urprised鈥� and she asked why he would do that. He responded that he didn鈥檛 mean to.
鈥淗e had hit me so hard that I couldn鈥檛 find my shoes and I couldn鈥檛 find my keys which were in my hand at the time.鈥�
She found her keys and headed back down towards her car, walking backwards because she was scared to turn her back to him.
When she reached her car, he asked her to follow him again.
But at the end of the road, when he turned one way, she went the other and headed straight home.
鈥淚 personally didn鈥檛 find him intimidating until he ran me over,鈥� she said, adding that in her profession she has never been given a reason to be afraid of anybody and nothing bad had ever happened to her.
In December, Sagmoen, 38, was found guilty of threatening a sex-trade worker with a firearm in August 2017, but he was released on time served. He was also given 36 months of probation with strict conditions.
Conditions of Sagmoen鈥檚 probation order include no contact with sex trade workers, or the complainant and he has been banned from websites advertising or soliciting escort services.
Sagmoen鈥檚 family property became the subject of an extensive search in the fall of 2017 and the remains of 18-year-old Traci Genereaux were discovered.
No charges have been laid in connection with Genereaux鈥檚 death.
In an unrelated case stemming from a 2013 incident in Maple Ridge, Sagmoen pleaded guilty to assault and was sentenced to 30 days in jail and two years鈥� probation in Feb. 2019.
newsroom@vernonmorningstar.com
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