A man who says he was lured to Mark Twitchell's rented south Edmonton garage told court Friday morning how he managed to escape after being attacked.
Gilles Tetreault took to the stand, telling the court how he met "Sheena" on an online dating site. He explained that he was to meet her at the garage on October 3, 2008. That's when he said he was attacked.
"I obviously realized this was no date," said Tetreault.
Tetreault said that while in the garage, he tried to escape. He said his attacker yelled at him to "get down on the ground" and pulled out what appeared to be a gun.
"I decided I better fight back," Tetreault told court.
The man says that he got up, ripped the tape off his mouth, and lunged at his attacker.
"I darted for the gun, grabbed it with my left hand," said Tetreault. "I felt it was just a plastic gun."
He says they continued to struggle.
"I quickly slipped out of my jacket," said Tetreault. "Rolled under the garage door and got up."
That's when he said that his attacker grabbed his legs and began dragging him back to the garage. He managed to get away when he saw a couple walking their dog near the garage. Tetreault says his attacker followed him outside, saw the couple and pretended to be friends, then went back into the garage.
When asked by the courts, Tetreault said he managed to pull on the attacker's hockey mask to try and get it off. He says he managed to see part of his cheek.
He described the suspect as white, saying he was taller than him and had a bigger build.
Tetreault said that he didn't go to police after the attack. It was only after his friend called him on November 2nd, telling him about an online CTV article he read that had a similar story. Tetreault said he went to police the next day.
The couple, Marisa Girhiny and her boyfriend Trevor Hossinger was called to the stand on Friday also. Girhiny said the injured man had a welt on his head and that he fell in front of them.
"There was a guy standing there in a mask," said Girhiny. "At that point, I started to freak out."
Hossinger described the attacker as wearing a hockey mask, a blue hoodie and jeans. He said he was a bigger man, roughly more than six feet tall.
"He just turned around like nothing happened," said Hossinger. "[He] started walking back towards the garage."
He said the masked man stopped and watched from behind the fence, by the garage door on the right.
Hossinger said Tetreault told them that he was being robbed and asked for help before hopping into his truck and driving away.
With files from CTV's David Ewasuk and Bill Fortier...