Protestors gather outside the Vernon courthouse, Monday, Feb. 10, 2020, for the first day of Curtis Sagmoen's latest trial.

(BEN BULMER / iNFOnews.ca)

The complainant in the latest case against Curtis Sagmoen, who was found guilty last year for pointing a gun at an escort, said she thought he “tried to kill” her when he drove his quad at high speed into her.

The incident took place a few weeks before Sagmoen pointed a gun at an escort near his parent's rural North Okanagan property in the summer of 2017.

The events of the incident were heard today, Feb. 10, at the Vernon courthouse during the first day of Sagmoen’s latest trial. Sagmoen stands trial on one count of assault causing bodily. He pleaded not guilty to the charge at an earlier court appearance.

The alleged incident took place Aug. 10, 2017, just weeks before he pointed a gun at another escort - an event he was found guilty for in December 2019 - and several months before the body of Traci Genereaux was found on his parent's Salmon River Road property where he lived. No charges have been laid in respect to Genereaux.

Earlier court appearances attracted large crowds of protestors outside the courthouse, but today’s appearance was a far quicker affair with just four activists outside the courthouse. One protestor said as Sagmoen was no longer in custody, she thought fear and intimidation had kept some protestors away.

While the trial had been scheduled to last for five days, defence lawyer Lisa Helps and Crown prosecutor Juan O'Quinn told the court they had come to an agreed statement of facts (meaning both parties agree to events that took place) and the trial should be finished by lunchtime tomorrow, Feb. 11.

Sagmoen, 39, who is no longer in custody and currently on probation, sat in the dock dressed in jeans and a shirt while the complainant in the case told the court how Sagmoen had contacted her through an advertisement on the website Backpage. Sagmoen had used the same site to contact the escort involved in his early trial.

The complainant, who can't be named due to a publication ban, told the court how when she was walking back to her car along a dirt road at Sagmoen's property, he had driven into her at full speed on his quad.

"He hit me so hard I flipped over," she said.

She then saw Sagmoen looking for her over the cliff edge and he seemed shocked when he realized the woman had not been knocked over the cliff and was behind him. Sagmoen then told her he did not mean to hit her.

The court heard how the complainant had previously been to the Sagmoen family's Salmon River Road property but he hadn't shown up and she'd left after calling him repeatedly. Following the incident, she'd blocked his phone number, but subsequently lost her phone and her new phone did not have his number blocked.

It was only when the complainant arrived at the property Aug. 10 that she realized she’d been there before. She told the court Sagmoen appeared on a quad and called her and said to follow him. The complainant followed Sagmoen up the dirt road in her car and they arrived at a creek.

“He tried to ask for my services on the side of the creek,” she said. “I was not happy.”

The complainant then followed Sagmoen further in her car along the dirt road but got stuck in the sand. As Sagmoen was trying to get her the car out of the sand a man walked past.

“(Sagmoen) looked scared,” she told the court.

The witness who is a neighbour later testified in court.

“I got the impression he wished I wasn’t there,” the neighbour said.

The neighbour told the court he took a photo of the car because he’d noticed strange vehicles on the property.

The neighbour kept walking and Sagmoen told the complainant to get on his quad and they would go to his place but he was very being vague about where on the property he lived. Sagmoen then said his quad had broken down.

“He was pretending his quad broke down,” she said. “I knew it wasn’t.”

She then asked for a lift back to her car and feeling very uncomfortable started walking back down the dirt road.

The court heard how the complainant heard the quad coming towards her.

“He was going full speed for sure,” she said.

The complainant said Sagmoen deliberately drove straight into her.

The incident left her with a concussion, a broken tailbone, a lot of bruising and road rash - along with severe post-traumatic stress disorder.

“I think he was… shocked I didn’t go over the cliff,” she said. “He was busy looking for me when I was behind him.”

Not wanting to turn her back on Sagmoen, she said she walked backwards down the dirt road to her car. She then drove home.

About two weeks later she said she told a “native” police officer about the incident. At the end of October 2017, she gave an official statement to the police.

The complainant told the court after the incident she heard stories from other escorts. One story involved a woman who had run out of gas while in the area. What is assumed to be a neighbour gave her some gas and $40 and told her “it wasn’t safe there” and to leave.

Under cross-examination, the complainant told the court she’d given the RCMP her cell phone but text messages between her and Sagmoen were missing from the phone. There was no explanation given in court as to why this was.

The complainant stood her ground when the defence lawyer proposed she was “pissed off” and suffering heroin withdrawal at the time of the incident.

“I was not pissed off. I don’t know why you’re telling me I was pissed off. I just wanted to do home,” she said.

Helps said the complainant got angry when she realized she wouldn't be paid the $900 to $1,200 for her services.

“You were extremely angry when you got back to your car?” Helps said.

“No, actually I was scared for my life,” the complainant replied. “I was trying to get away from him… he had just tried to kill me.”

The trial is scheduled to continue tomorrow, Feb. 11.

For more stories on Curtis Sagmoen go here.

— This story was updated at 5:03 p.m. Monday, Feb. 10, 2020, with more testimony from the day's court proceedings.

To contact a reporter for this story, email Ben Bulmer or call (250) 309-5230 or email the editor. You can also submit photos, videos or news tips to the newsroom and be entered to win a monthly prize draw.

We welcome your comments and opinions on our stories but play nice. We won't censor or delete comments unless they contain off-topic statements or links, unnecessary vulgarity, false facts, spam or obviously fake profiles. If you have any concerns about what you see in comments, email the editor in the link above. 

News from © iNFOnews, 2020