James Rektor appears in this March 2024 photo.

Image Credit: FACEBOOK: James Rektor

A Kelowna tow truck driver who kicked his ex-wife in the head while she was pregnant argued he shouldn't get a criminal record for his violence and denied he had anger management problems.

James Edward Thomas Rektor pushed his ex-wife to the ground before kicking her in the head when she was six months pregnant.

Months later, after she'd given birth, he repeatedly kicked her in the stomach after she refused to have sex with him.

Several years later, while she was seven months pregnant with their second child, Rektor strangled his ex while she was in the bath. He was angry she wouldn't get out to make dinner for him.

During this time his heavily pregnant ex-wife worked full-time for $14 an hour while he stayed home unemployed.

According to a June 20 BC Supreme Court decision, Rektor argued his ex-wife made it all up.

The decision says the couple's relationship was "volatile and tumultuous" from the get-go, and they argued about his infidelity and precarious financial circumstances.

They were barely out of their teens when they met and they had two children before separating in 2020.

An earlier court decision depicts a brave young woman, living with a violent, abusive and threatening husband, being consistently told no one will believe her if she goes to the police.

In January, Rektor was guilty of four counts of assault.

His lawyer, Michael Patterson, argued he shouldn't get a criminal record providing he completes two years of probation or a period of house arrest.

Crown prosecutor Catherine Rezansoff wanted Rektor to spend three-and-a-half years in jail.

In the years since the assaults, Rezansoff said Rektor remarried and has two more children. The couple live in her parents' basement and his new wife says he's never been abusive towards her.

Rektor denies any emotional dysregulation and insists that he has always managed his anger appropriately.

"This stands in stark contradiction to the findings I made in convicting him on four counts of assault," Justice Jasvinder Basran said in the decision.

A psychological assessment found him at a moderate risk of committing intimate partner violence in the future.

"Throughout their relationship, Mr. Rektor intimidated, threatened, and coerced Ms. Connaghan if she reported him to the police. As the son of parents who worked as police dispatchers, Mr. Rektor repeatedly warned Ms. Connaghan that the police would believe his version of events over hers, and that he would assert that she was mentally unstable. He also threatened to prevent her from seeing their children," the Justice said.

At one point he obtained a restraining order so she couldn't see her children.

The decision says the abuse left his ex with post-traumatic stress disorder and the constant fear that she will never feel safe.

"In respect of the choking incident, she describes her fear that Mr. Rektor might have murdered her in the presence of their two-year-old child and her determination to survive this attack," the decision reads.

The decision says Rektor had a stable upbringing free from any abuse or trauma. His parents continue to be a positive support and influence in his life.

He has no criminal record and works as a tow truck driver. His employer gave a letter of support to the courts. Other letters came from his current wife, his mother, two friends, and a colleague.

In arguing his client shouldn't go to jail, his lawyer said Rektor is not a danger to the community, had stopped drinking, and had been incident-free since being arrested four years ago.

He said he was the sole income earner for his four children.

Justice Basran said Rektor had only expressed some level of remorse and vaguely took responsibility.

He also pleaded not to be sent to prison.

"I recognize that he is the sole breadwinner for his current family that consists of two young children and his current wife. I also recognize that he contributes financially and otherwise to the care of the two children he had with (the victim). His incarceration will create additional burdens for the family members he leaves behind. This is regrettable, but I must not let these consequences overwhelm the sentencing principles of deterrence and denunciation," the Justice said.

Ultimately, he was sentenced to three and a half years in jail.

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