A police officer keeps careful watch during the manhunt for prolific offender Ronald Teneycke last July. Teneycke entered guilty pleas on four charges last week. Now the shooting victim,
Wayne Belleville, has spoken about his ordeal with the criminal and his close brush with death, when he was shot and left for dead. (Lyonel Doherty photo)
As Wayne Belleville strokes his constant canine companions, Jewel and Meesha, he knows he’s one lucky man.
He also knows that, whatever happens, his canine friends will never leave his side.
They proved that when Belleville was lying on the road with a bullet in his back, shortly after he met up with the notorious prolific offender Ronald Teneycke in Oliver last summer.
Teneycke had residents of Oliver, Osoyoos and many other parts of the South Okanagan living in fear as police engaged in a manhunt to try and track down the repeat offender.
“They lay there licking my hands,” Belleville said, recalling the nightmare of July 22 when he ran for his life on a side road, 35 kilometres from town.
Belleville was driving his pickup truck approximately 10 kilometres off McKinney Road when he saw a man who waved him down.
“He gave me this sad sack story and tried to look pathetic,” Belleville said.
Teneycke said he was hunting and became lost and was wandering around for days. He noted that he had a colostomy bag.
Belleville didn’t realize it was Teneycke, the desperate criminal on the run, and after sizing him up, didn’t have a lot of sympathy for him.
But he told the offender that if he was still in the area by the time he finished work (getting wood), he .would pick him up on the way back to town.
Belleville said Teneycke walked about eight kilometres and “laid in wait” for him, running out of the bush and flagging him down again when he saw the truck three hours later.
Belleville said Teneycke got in his truck and almost immediately started talking about the current charges .against him, including possessing explosives (which he was supposed to serve intermittent jail time for, but .never showed up).
Belleville started wondering who this guy was, until the offender revealed his true identity.
The victim then gave Teneycke two choices, one of which was “get the f—k out of my truck.” The other was take him to the cops.
Belleville said Teneycke pretended to pause and replied, “Ya, I’ve had enough; take me to the cops.”
The offender then fumbled with his backpack and pulled out a handgun, threatening Belleville.
“It was paralyzing . . . the look on his face; there was no doubt he would use it (the gun).”
Instinctively, Belleville slammed on the brakes, grabbed his keys and called his dogs to follow him as he bolted out of the truck and ran down the road.
“I heard it . . . the sound of the (gun) shot. It hit me and I dropped.”
Belleville, struck with a 22-calibre bullet, had a hard time breathing and felt his left lung collapse.
Teneycke walked up to his victim, and in a gruff voice asked, “Where did I hit you?!”
Belleville replied, “Why the f—k did you kill me?”
Teneycke said he was a dangerous offender and had “nothing to lose.”
He then took Belleville’s keys and walked back to the truck.
At this point the victim looked up and saw Teneycke aiming the rifle at him. That’s when Belleville got up and started running again, diving for cover over a small berm.
He poked his head up again and was relieved to see another vehicle come along and slow down, which spooked Teneycke into driving away.
Belleville got up and ran onto the road, trying to get the other driver’s attention, but the woman thought he was trying to signal the man (Teneycke) in the truck.
Alone, Belleville decided to lie in the middle of the road, where Jewel and Meesha kept him company by licking his hands.
“I was laying there and my most prominent thought was my kids (anxious that I would never see them again),” he said, with tears in his eyes.
Another car came by and the two occupants told Belleville to stay there while they went for help.
He then passed out.
Fortunately, another vehicle came by, picked him up and drove him to an awaiting ambulance near Oliver.
Belleville lost his spleen and suffered a partially paralyzed lung in the ordeal.
In retrospect, Belleville said he wished he would have fought back instead of running away from Teneycke.
“I’m not the type of person to be bullied … I could have punched him and kicked him out of the truck, but I’m passive by nature.”
But if he had to do it all over again, Teneycke would have been the one who was injured, Belleville said.
Not surprisingly, the furniture maker is bitter. He said the RCMP was too tight-lipped with information
during the manhunt for Teneycke, which put the community at risk.
Belleville also criticized the Crown for agreeing to an intermittent (weekend) jail sentence for Teneycke’s conviction for possessing explosives. That’s when the offender went on the lam and never showed up for the sentence.
Last week, Teneycke pleaded guilty to four charges, including the robbery of Eastside Grocery and discharging a firearm with the intent to wound or disfigure.
But Belleville maintains the appropriate charge should have been attempted murder.
While the court awaits a study to determine if Teneycke should be designated a dangerous offender, Belleville said anything short of that should be the subject of public outrage.
“He has terrorized the South Okanagan for far too long.”
Belleville is relieved to be spared having to testify and face Teneycke again during a trial, and feels that his road to recovery (psychologically) is now being paved.
“The door is closing. Too much of my energy has been directed toward him … now I’m starting to get that asshole out of my head.”
Since the ordeal, Belleville has been overwhelmed with support shown from the public.
Verbal well wishes and cash donations have helped him get back on his feet.
His next project – giving back to the community by building a gazebo somewhere in Oliver. He feels it’s the least he could do.
LYONEL DOHERTY
Special to the Times
