The terrifying details of a crime spree last summer were heard in a Penticton courtroom last week as a prolific offender from the South Okanagan pleaded guilty to multiple charges and is facing the possibility of being labelled a dangerous offender.
Ronald Arthur Teneycke, 52, pleaded guilty to armed robbery, one count of discharging a firearm with the intent to wound or disfigure, committing a robbery using a restricted firearm and flight from a peace officer.
Teneycke admitted to shooting Oliver man Wayne Belleville on July 22. Belleville, who owns a furniture business, was collecting wood around 8:30 a.m. on McKinney Road when he encountered Teneycke, who was walking on the road. He told Belleville he was lost and he’d been in the bush for three days.
Belleville picked Teneycke up after he had finished collecting wood. Teneycke had a rifle with him and told Belleville he was out hunting. When Belleville recognized Teneycke as a prolific offender that RCMP were looking for, he told him to get out of his truck. Teneycke produced a revolver and threatened to shoot Belleville, who grabbed his truck keys and ran toward the bushes to escape, calling to his dogs. Belleville was shot in the back as he ran away. Teneycke held a gun to Belleville’s head, demanding his phone and truck keys. Belleville saw Teneycke at his truck, levelling a rifle towards him before a car passed, distracting Teneycke and saving his life.
“I only spent five minutes with this guy and he irrevocably changed my life. I’m grateful that I’m being spared the trial, and hopefully will be able to get past this,” Belleville said outside the courthouse after the guilty pleas were entered.
He believes the vehicle that drove by after Teneycke shot him saved his life. The business owner eventually found out last month it was one of his clients.
“I think the community at large would benefit from a lengthy incarceration if not indefinite,” Belleville said. “He’s terrorized Oliver, Okanagan Falls, Osoyoos, Keremeos for far too long.”
The crime spree started on July 16 just around 10:15 a.m. in Oliver when Teneycke entered the East Side Grocery store, grabbing some items before producing a weapon and demanding the clerk give him the cash from the register, making off with $195.
A manhunt was underway after and culminated in a chase with Teneycke in the stolen truck, evading a spike belt and driving through orchards in the Cawston area before an officer rammed his vehicle twice as Teneycke was raising his rifle, pinning the vehicle Teneycke was in against a tree. Two officers fired multiple shots at the truck prior to Teneycke’s surrender.
Crown counsel Murray Kaay put forward an application to label Teneycke a dangerous offender, a lengthy process that could culminate in an indeterminate sentence.
Teneycke faces a minimum of five years for armed robbery and a minimum of four years for the shooting of Belleville.
Teneycke returns to court June 8 where the results of an assessment regarding dangerous offender status is expected.