He was convicted of forcing himself into a Stonebridge condo, where he confined, choked and raped a 21-year-old woman over two days in 2019.
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The first week of a dangerous offender hearing has concluded for a Saskatoon man with a history of violence, including breaking into a stranger’s home, confining and raping her.
The Crown finished calling witnesses on Friday at the hearing, which began Monday in Saskatoon Court of King’s Bench, as it seeks to have Joseph Simon Peter Yaremko sentenced as a dangerous offender.
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The sentencing process establishes whether an offender’s pattern of violent or sexual behaviour poses a risk that can’t be managed in the community. Dangerous offenders can receive indeterminate or determinate sentences with a lengthy supervision period in order to protect the public.
In 2020, Yaremko, now 43, was convicted of sexual assault with a weapon, breaking and entering and forcible confinement. Court heard he forced himself into a condo in the 100 block of Wellman Crescent in June 2019 and confined a 21-year-old woman who lived there.
He raped her, choked her and forced her to use drugs during the prolonged attack, which lasted until she escaped the next day, Justice Naheed Bardai found.
A dangerous offender assessment was ordered in 2022. Yaremko’s hearing was adjourned last year for medical reasons, court heard.
On Tuesday, Yaremko told Justice Daryl Labach that he couldn’t be in court because he hadn’t been given medication for his attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, and his legs were swollen from a medical disorder related to protein deficiency.
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After speaking to doctors at the Saskatoon jail, where Yaremko is being held during his hearing, Labach said he was told Yaremko isn’t prescribed ADHD medication, even though his file shows he’s been prescribed it in the past.
After further questioning, Yaremko said he chose to stop taking medication while “locked up in the hole.” He said correctional staff have had two years to straighten out his medication situation, calling the jail a “circus.” He also said he filed a human rights complaint.
The transfer request was denied.
This week, a probation officer testified that she was involved with Yaremko in 2012, when he was part of the intensive supervision program.
He was serving a 15-month conditional sentence — jail in the community — on house arrest when he suddenly stopped reporting, Julie Rogal said. She told court at the time, Yaremko was committing break-ins and property crimes, and his risk factors included substance use and negative peers.
He had pre-existing medical issues worsened by his drug use, which prevented him from receiving some types of treatment, Rogal testified.
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While Yaremko was on remand for the 2019 sexual assault, he trapped a female employee in a shoe room at Saskatoon’s Regional Psychiatric Centre and attacked her. The woman told court she believed he was going to rape her based on a graphic, sexual letter he had just given her. He received a three-year sentence in 2020 after pleading guilty to assault causing bodily harm and unlawful confinement.
Court heard Yaremko had 100 prior convictions on his criminal record, including assaulting a police officer and escaping from Saskatchewan Hospital in 2014, which prompted a standoff.
Defence lawyer Evan Strelioff will have be able to call evidence when the hearing continues next week.
Yaremko is on remand at the Regina jail pending his sentencing. In 2022, he requested a transfer to a federal facility, alleging he has been repeatedly assaulted, can’t get treatment for his meth addiction or mental health services for his bipolar disorder, and has been denied ADHD medication while in jail.
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