Bags that Tyler Stephens used to cover his head while attacking women were key to his arrest, court heard Monday.
Details of the Kelowna man‘s crimes were revealed publicly for the first time, as lawyers argue this week whether Stephens should be put away indefinitely as a dangerous offender. Police used DNA materials from a brown paper bag and a plastic shopping bag to link Stephens to two sexual assaults in 2007.
Women across the city were terrified to be alone outside at night that summer after a series of attacks by a mystery man, dubbed the Rutland rapist. Eight women, most of them in the Rutland neighbourhood, were attacked in their homes or on the street after dark.
Stephens, now 22, sexually assaulted a ninth woman in a parking lot on Highway 33 in July 2007 – a case that led to his conviction a year later. He was sentenced to 10 months of house arrest, but police didn‘t know he was committing the other assaults.
A former defensive back with the Okanagan Sun football team, Stephens attended a team party in July 2008. By being there, he breached a condition of his house arrest and police arrested him.
Days later, experts at the RCMP‘s forensic lab found a match between the two bags Stephens had worn during the two earlier attacks. A judge ordered him to submit a bodily sample on Aug. 6, 2008. The experts concluded the bags contained his DNA.
Days after his arrest on Oct. 21, 2008, Stephens confessed to the other sexual assaults and wrote a letter of apology to the women. He has since pleaded guilty to nine assaults.
The attacks were eerily similar. In most cases, he stalked women from behind as they walked alone at night. He‘d put his arm around a victim‘s neck, cover her mouth with his hand, wrestle her to the ground and pin her.
In most cases, Stephens would grope his victims. The women often fought back and screamed, prompting him to flee.
On Monday, Stephens looked fit with a crew cut as he sat in the prisoner‘s box. He leaned over and covered most of his face with his shirt as Crown counsel Dave Ruse recited details of his crimes:
In May, 2007, Stephens met a 27-year-old prostitute on Burne Road and arranged to meet her at her house near Kelowna General Hospital. He overpowered her at her door and used his arm to cut off her breathing. He led her inside, pulled up her skirt and removed her underwear. He sexually assaulted her from behind and fled.
On June 12, Stephens followed an 18-year-old woman to her basement suite near Hollywood Road South. She went inside and changed into her pajamas in her bedroom. Stephens appeared with the Wendy‘s bag over his head, with holes for his mouth and eyes. He grabbed her, threw her on the bed and pulled up her shirt. She screamed and fought back, biting his hand over her mouth. He jumped up, crashed into a dresser and ran, leaving the bag behind.
June 19, Stephens returned to the prostitute‘s suite and knocked on the door. When she opened it, he forced his way in wearing the plastic bag over his head. He wrestled her down and pulled her hair as her one-year-old child screamed. He covered her mouth, but she turned her head to scream and he took off.
July 26, a 34-year-old woman was walking home at 3:30 a.m. after her car ran out of gas. Stephens approached her on Rutland Road North and asked her for a cigarette. He followed her, grabbed her from behind in a choke hold and dragged her between two buildings. He kneeled on her, his hands on her throat. She punched, screamed, kicked and bit him. He groped her over her pants and ran off.
The following night, Stephens put a cloth bag over a 28-year-old woman‘s head as she walked home after 11 p.m. on Rutland Road. He flipped her on the ground with his hand on her mouth and removed it when she feigned unconsciousness. He pulled her up by the chin when she struggled. A neighbour who saw the assault yelled from his house, prompting Stephens to remove the bag and flee. The woman sustained two black eyes and bruising.
July 28, an 18-year-old woman walked home from work at about 12:30 a.m. Stephens covered her head from behind with a cloth bag near Houghton Road and covered her mouth with his hand. He choked her as she screamed and rubbed her genital area. She punched him in the throat and he ran.
Aug. 23, an 18-year-old woman finished work at 10:30 p.m. and walked home near Leathead Road. Stephens wrapped his arm around her neck with his hand over her mouth, threw her on the grass and dragged her to some bushes. She punched, screamed and kicked. He pulled down her pants and touched her. Her mother heard the screams and yelled. He fled.
Sept. 20, a 15-year-old girl got off the bus at Gerstmar and Highway 33 at 10 p.m. Stephens tripped her and pushed her down. He touched her breasts and genital area as she kicked, screamed and tried to bite his hand. He ran.
Nov. 1, a 17-year-old girl got off the bus at Harvey Avenue and Burtch Road. Stephens, wearing a hoody, appeared to be texting nearby. He grabbed her around the neck on Burtch and forced her to the ground. She screamed, bit, punched and scratched him. He used one hand to hold her down and the other to penetrate her with his finger. She ran to Parkinson Rec Centre.
