The Ottawa Sun
August 9, 2005 Tuesday
FINAL EDITION
COURT TOLD OF HORRIFIC CAR ATTACK;
EX-BOYFRIEND WANTED TO KILL ME: DOC
BY DEREK PUDDICOMBE, OTTAWA SUN
A HEALTH Canada employee says she felt like a caged animal waiting
to be slaughtered at any moment as her former lover continually
threatened to kill her if she didn’t continue their relationship.
Three months after Lillian Arakelyan, 39, said she broke off what
she called an abusive and controlling relationship with her Armenian
boyfriend living in the U.S., he was back in Ottawa waiting for her
in an underground parking lot at her Cooper St. apartment building —
the spot where she says a brutal attack and assault took place.
Arakelyan said she had just got into her car on the morning of Aug.
3, 2004 and was about to close the car door when Gagik Artsrunyan
grabbed her and pulled her from the vehicle.
THROWN, KICKED, PUNCHED
“He grabbed me and dragged me to his car and threw me in the back
seat of his car,” said Arakelyan, who described to the court how she
was repeatedly kicked and punched during the alleged attack.
After the struggle she broke free, but said the accused caught up
with her, began to choke her, and again dragged her to his car.
Breaking free, she managed to make it to her car and began to drive
away. But she said the accused again caught up with her and jumped
into the back seat area, where he proceeded to punch her in the back
of the head.
“He was threatening to kill me and said nobody leaves him and that
he would follow me everywhere,” said Arakelyan.
Managing to drive to the Ottawa police station on Elgin St., Arakelyan
got the attention of two officers.
Arakelyan said her former boyfriend told police he only wanted to
retrieve a few belongings from her home. With promises to leave
Arakelyan alone and leave the country, he left.
However, for the next three days Arakelyan, a Canadian citizen
since 2001 after arriving in the capital from Armenia to complete
post-graduate work at the University of Ottawa, said her life was a
living nightmare.
‘I FELT TRAPPED’
The foreign-trained physician told the court that Artsrunyan hadn’t
left the country and had made dozens of phone calls and visits to
her home and witnessed him sitting in a car outside her home.
“I didn’t want to leave my apartment and I felt trapped fearing for
my life,” Arakelyan told Crown prosecutor Walter Devenz.
Arakelyan told the court she first met Artsrunyan in Armenia when
she was 16, but hadn’t heard from him since arriving in Canada seven
years ago.
She said he contacted her in May or June 2003, suggesting they start
a relationship.
After some hesitation, a relationship ensued with Artsrunyan, living
in Portland, Ore., at the time, but the affair quickly deteriorated.
Artsrunyan is charged with two counts of criminal harassment, three
counts of uttering threats and forcible confinement and assault.
The trial continues today.