Testimony of deceased alleged victim of Peter Tsetta heard in N.W.T. courtroom

Video testimony of awoman alleging she was raped by Peter Tsettatwo years ago was played in N.W.T. Supreme Court Wednesday.

It was a recordingof the statement she gave to police in July 2017, two months after the alleged attack.The woman in the video had diedin December.

The woman is one of two Tsetta, 50, is accused of sexually assaulting and confining in his home against their willon two separate occasions in 2017. It was the third day of the trial.

There is a publication ban onany information that could identify the complainants.

In the video, the woman told police she had been drinking in downtown Yellowknife on May 14, 2017 with another woman she didn't know.

She said the pair ran into Tsetta, who invited them to drink at his home in Ndilo. She told police in the video that Tsetta was her ex-boyfriend and had been convicted of assaulting her once before.

The woman said the group took a cab to Tsetta's house where they started drinking until she blacked out.

The next thing she remembered was Tsetta on top of her in his bed, and she wasn't wearing pants or underwear. She didn't know where the other woman had gone or if she had left the home.

In the video, she described being raped to the police.

The woman said when she told Tsetta to get off her, he held her down.She began screaming for help and he covered her mouth.

Woman didn't talk to police for two months

When Tsetta fell asleep the woman said she got dressed, but Tsetta woke up, so she told him she wouldn't tell anyone what had happened and he let her go.

The woman went to the Vital Abel Boarding home, a short walk from Tsetta's home, where she told an employee she had been sexually assaulted and to call police; but she said RCMP took too long to arrive so she left fora friend's house, where she stayed the night.

RCMP testified they searched for the woman for several hours that night but could not find her.

It wasn't until May 20 that Const. Jeffery Hemeon testified he found the woman intoxicated at the Safe Harbour day shelter in downtown Yellowknife. That shelter has since closed.

Hemeon testified he knew RCMP had been looking to speak with her. He asked the woman a few questions and mentioned the importance of telling RCMP what happened, but didn't take her statement because she was drunk.

He ran into her again eight days later during a patrol, and said she agreed to talk to a female officer at the police station. She was sober, but Hemeon testified she got impatient after waiting 10 minutes for the female officer and left the station.

RCMPtook the woman's statement on July 13, 2017.

The trial continues on June 11.