Matthew Foerster Sentenced For Assaults on Two Women

Convicted murderer Matthew Foerster appeared in Kelowna provincial court on Wednesday to face charges of assault causing bodily harm and sexual assault.

An undated photo of Matthew Foerster (Photo Credit: File Photo)

Foerster entered guilty pleas on both counts and spoke silently to the court when asked to enter the pleas. Simply stating “yes sir” and “yes” to the judge, Forester looked down for most of the sentencing arguments. Foerster, who was convicted of murdering Armstrong teenager Taylor van Diest on October 31^st, 2011, is currently serving a life sentence.

Crown Councillor Iain Currie described to Justice Mark Takahashi the assault that took place on a then 19 year old woman in Cherryville. In the early morning hours of October 19^th, 2004 a masked Foerster broke into the woman’s home while she was asleep in bed. He slammed her head against the wall with such force that she had her head split open in two places and blood rushing down her body. He then ordered her to follow him and at this point she thought she recognized him as a friend of her brother’s. As she followed him down the hallway in her home she saw a gun in his waistband and became terrified.

During a victim impact statement read aloud in court the woman described the shock and terror she endured during the assault. Crying and trembling while reading the statement she managed to get through her statement.

“There was so much blood covering my body,” she said. “My head was split open in two places and I required so many stitches. I still suffer from what happened and have trouble sleeping. I am fearful in public and at home, I had to move in with my family, I took a month off work. I was depressed and unhappy and had a cloudy mind.”

Family and friends of the victims outside the Kelowna Court House (Photo Credit: KelownaNow.com)

Foerster eventually left the home and the woman injured and scared. She called the police and said she thought the man was Foerster and police interviewed him. His father Stephen Foerster gave police an alibi for his son and the investigation went cold for several years.

Currie then went on to describe the disturbing rape that took place at the Garden of Eden escort service on Leon Avenue in Kelowna. About seven or eight months following the home invasion, Foerster went to the escort agency and attacked a worker. The woman, who was working alone that day, encountered Foerster at around 2:00 in the afternoon.

She proceeded to give him a tour of the building at which point Foerster pulled out a knife and held it to her throat. He demanded she give him oral sex and then anally raped her. He fled the business but his DNA was left behind and recovered by police. It was entered into the DNA databank and sat there until it was connected to the Van Diest murder. It was ultimately that DNA that resulted in the arrest and conviction of Foerster in the teen’s murder.

Crown Council Iain Currie on the Kelowna Court House steps speaking to the media (Photo Credit: KelownaNow.com)

Crown Council and defence lawyer Lisa Helps entered a joint submission and asked the judge for a six year sentence to be served concurrently. They also asked for his DNA to be registered in a databank, a lifetime firearms prohibition and no contact with either victim either directly or indirectly. Justice Takahashi accepted the sentence and orders and handed down the sentence.

Outside the courthouse Currie explained to reporters why Foerster’s sentence will be served concurrently to his current life sentence.

“The criminal code says that you can’t have a consecutive sentence to a life sentence which is what Mr. Foerster is currently serving,” explained Currie. “Unlike the U.S. where they stack life sentences one on top of the other in Canada a life sentence just means that, Mr. Foerster will be subject to a life sentence on the murder conviction for the rest of his life.”

Foerster arriving in Kelowna after his arrest in Ontario (Photo Credit: File Photo)

Foerster, who is now 28, was 18 at the time of the home invasion and 19 when the rape and attack took place in Kelowna, at the time he had no prior criminal record. His victims were only 19 years old at the time. He is currently serving his sentence at a maximum security prison and is in lock up for 21 hours out of the day. He spends two hours in rehabilitation programs and one hour in the yard.

Foerster had no more outstanding charges against him but has filed an appeal for the murder conviction.