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Even without indefinite sentence, Teneycke may face decades

Ronald Teneycke’s dangerous offender hearing resumed Monday, where Crown lawyers called for 20+ years
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Ronald Teneycke is escorted out of Penticton’s courthouse following dangerous offender hearings in the summer. Those hearings resumed Monday after a months long hiatus for Teneycke’s health complications. (Dustin Godfrey/Western News)

Even if an application to serve the South Okanagan’s most notorious criminal with an indefinite jail sentence fails, Crown lawyers are seeking nearly 25 more years in prison.

The dangerous offender hearing for Ronald Teneycke resumed Monday after a months long hiatus following a summer adjournment for Teneycke to deal with health related issues, having been diagnosed with leukemia.

Teneycke appeared weak in Penticton’s courthouse Monday afternoon, where Crown attorney Murray Kaay read off the litany of Teneycke’s offences, which span three-and-a-half decades.

Related: Ronald Teneycke diagnosed with leukemia

A dangerous offender hearing comes with the potential for an indefinite prison sentence for Teneycke, which Kaay said he felt was appropriate for a man with such a lengthy and violent criminal past as Kaay.

“The Crown submits it’s abundantly clear Mr. Teneycke embodies the very definition of a dangerous offender,” Kaay said.

“Criteria for designating an offender as dangerous has remained largely unchanged … and that is and has been predicated as being based on a fairly simple concept, and that is the common sense principle that past behaviour is the best predictor of future behaviour.”

Kaay had previously listed off a lengthy list of crimes Teneycke has been convicted of in his criminal career, ranging from sex assault with a weapon down to possession of methamphetamine.

Related: Dangerous offender hearing starts

Teneycke’s first offence was in 1981, and has included numerous violent robberies.

Teneycke’s most recent offence is the shooting and armed robbery of Wayne Belleville, who stopped to pick up a hitchhiking Teneycke in 2015. Teneycke shot Belleville in the back and stole his truck, and proceeded to flee from police.

Though the Crown is seeking an indefinite sentence through the dangerous offender application, Kaay also noted the hardline sentence he would be seeking if the dangerous offender application failed.

For shooting Belleville, the Crown is calling for 12 to 14 years, along with 14 to 16 years for the armed robbery of Belleville, and four to five years for fleeing from police — all of which would be served concurrent.

Related: Dramatic conclusion in RCMP hunt for Teneycke

On top of that, Teneycke is charged with an armed robbery of a woman, for which Crown is seeking 10 to 12 years, which would be served consecutive to the previous charges.

That would add up to 24 to 28 years in jail, minus about three-and-a-half years for time served, making for a sentence of about 21.5 to 24.5 years.

But Kaay stressed that, in his position, Teneycke appears to be incorrigible, having exhausted numerous sentence lengths and types.

Related: Last chance for prolific offender Teneycke

“The Crown submits, and in this regard it is amply supported by the record, that external control such as parole conditions and conditions of probation, conditions of recognizance, have had very limited effect, very limited effect in controlling Mr. Teneycke’s behaviour,” Kaay said.

“(A doctor’s analysis of) Mr. Teneycke’s both impressive and very criminal offending observed that Mr. Teneycke had been under legal orders for most of his adult life, which serves to underscore his inability to stay clear of legal transgression.”

Defence lawyer Michael Welsh said Teneycke is doing alright health-wise, albeit tired. He had been in the hospital earlier in the day for testing.

Welsh is set to make his closing remarks on the sentencing and dangerous offender hearing Tuesday morning.


@dustinrgodfrey
dustin.godfrey@pentictonwesternnews.com
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