The widow of an Ottawa police officer who was stabbed to death inside his police cruiser says she feels like she's stuck in an Ottawa soap opera where she's always the main character.
Anna Korutowska was in court Monday to face the man accused of carjacking her at knifepoint in a grocery store parking lot six months after her husband, Const. Eric Czapnik, was fatally stabbed outside the Civic campus of the Ottawa Hospital.
Korutowska alleges she was carjacked while she was parked outside a south-Ottawa grocery store at about 11 p.m. on June 27, 2010. A man wielding a knife allegedly approached her vehicle and demanded cash.
Although Korutowska handed over $300, she alleges the robber got in the car and forced her to drive him to a nearby street.
"I told him: I'm so nervous, I can't drive. I told him to let me go. He told me I should drive," Korutowska told the court on Monday.
She added: "I told him I'm a single mother and told him not to hurt me."
A few weeks after the carjacking, police arrested now 29-year-old Kevin Ransdell. He was charged with robbery, forcible confinement, handling a deadly weapon and uttering threats.
However, Ransdell wants the charges stayed. The defence argues the arresting officers used excessive force on their client because they believed he was involved in the carjacking. The defence further alleges that Ransdell's treatment by police suggests he won't get a fair trial.
The trial is expected to last at least two weeks. The Crown will submit its evidence first, and then the defence will file an application to have the charges stayed. If the request is denied, the defence will have to present its case.
With a report from CTV Ottawa's John Hua
