WARNING: This story contains details of sexual assault.
BATTLEFORD – The night she was allegedly sexually assaulted by Travis Levitsky, her reason for going to his house was two-fold, testified a woman who can’t be identified due to a publication ban.
She thought she could help him and Levitsky’s mother, Lorraine Griffin, had asked her to go to his house and help him, court heard.
“I felt bad for him having to strip in the street. He was in pretty rough shape and I thought I could help and Lorraine asked me to go.”
Hours earlier, his mother had called the Lloydminster RCMP to report that her son was threatening to commit suicide. Police were told he had firearms.
RCMP located him in his truck on the Saskatchewan side of the city and surrounded his vehicle. They ordered him to throw his keys out of the truck and get out. While standing in the middle of the street, he was ordered to strip, court heard.
Levitsky was informed he was being arrested under the Mental Health Act. He was put in the back of a police vehicle for about two hours while he waited to see a doctor at the Lloydminster hospital.
Once inside the hospital, he was only there for about 10 minutes, testified Levitsky. He said the doctor knew him because his mother was a registered nurse, apologized to him, and gave him two Ativan before releasing him.
After Levitsky was released, he contacted his mother and the complainant.
“He was upset and complained the handcuffs were too tight and that he had to sit in the cop car,” testified the complainant.
She ended up going to his house, she said.
“I tried to calm him down. He was delirious and not stopping pacing and talking. His eyes were huge. He tried to initiate sex. He said ‘let’s have sex,’ and I said 'no, it’s not a good time.’”
She said he forced himself on her.
“I remember him pinning me down. I tried to get up but his arms were too heavy. I was pinned down the whole assault.”
She testified he was saying vulgar things to her during the alleged five-minute sexual assault.
“I remember turning my head and crying.”
Afterwards, Levitsky told her he had to go for a drive to talk to his grandpa, court heard.
“I knew him (grandpa) to be deceased,” said the complainant. “He was delirious. He hadn’t slept in days.”
She testified that he was drinking, doing cocaine, and was “frantic” and “pacing.”
Levitsky also told her he was going to the police about the alleged sexual abuse he suffered as a child.
Defence Logan Marchand asked her why didn’t she leave after the alleged sexual assault against her.
“He made me feel bad for him because of the sexual abuse he had as a child. He gave me details… and his age, it’s very sad. I remember laying there crying; the state he was in.”
Throughout her testimony Monday, the complainant refused to look at Levitsky. He stared at her almost the entire time.
She told the court that Levitsky had allegedly threatened to send people to her house to beat her up and threatened to call her boss and ruin her job.
On Monday, defence entered texts to the court that were between Levitsky’s mother and the complainant.
Crown Prosecutor Keltie Coupa objected saying she hadn’t seen the texts previously and they should have been brought well in advance of the trial. In addition, she said they were private messages the complainant had never intended to share with anyone else and her dignity must be protected.
Defence said the texts helped provide a timeline of how the events unfolded. There were discrepancies between the time stamp on the texts and the testimony of the complainant.
Justice Colin D. Clakson allowed portions of the texts to be read in court.
The text conversations revealed Griffin regretted calling the police. The complainant and Griffin also talked about their frustration with the health care system. They thought the hospital would have kept him instead of releasing him right away.
Griffin took the stand on Tuesday and testified that the text conversation between her and the complainant wasn’t altered. She said she took screenshots of the April 2022 text conversation a couple of weeks ago to provide to Levitsky’s defence counsel. She admitted she got a new phone on Friday, after taking screenshots of texts on the old cell phone.
On the stand Tuesday, Levitsky admitted to a lot of “recreational drug use,” mostly cocaine. He said that after he was discharged from the hospital, he grabbed “alcohol, drugs, and a gun from the garage,” before going on a drive southeast of Lloydminster.
Levitsky testified that he parked his truck, consumed a baggy of cocaine, and drank all of the cans of beer he had brought with him before eventually driving home.
He denied sexually assaulting the complainant.
The non-jury trial started Monday in Battleford Court of King’s Bench. Forty-year-old Levitsky’s legal name is Kevin Travis Levitsky but he goes by his middle name, Travis.
The Crown rested their case on Monday and the defence rested their case on Tuesday. Closing arguments are scheduled for Wednesday.
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