Nearly two years later, the victim of a frightening rape and confinement at the hands of a former co-worker is still haunted, she said yesterday.

And the woman, who can't be named, believes if she hadn't made a daring escape -- half-naked and handcuffed behind her back -- she wouldn't be alive.

"Even though I survived, I feel like part of me died that night," she said, reading from a victim impact statement.

"I still experience fear at things I used to consider normal, like the doorbell ringing," she said, choking back tears.

"I have confirmation that there are monsters and predators out there that disguise themselves among us," she said.

David Michael Gendreau, 42, was to be sentenced, but a report ordered by Justice Scott Brooker wasn't prepared in time.

He was convicted by a jury last month of sexual assault and unlawful confinement in connection with a Feb. 1, 2008, attack in his northwest Calgary home.

Gendreau had lured his victim, with whom he once worked with at Canada Post, to the residence under the pretext of seeing renovations he was doing.

He then made sexual advances towards her and when she rejected him, he handcuffed her behind her back and repeatedly raped her.

After several hours she managed to escape, naked from the waist down, to a neighbour's home after Gendreau fell asleep.

At a court appearance a few days after jurors found him guilty, Gendreau suggested racism played a role in his conviction.

"I'm a black man in a white town, a redneck town to begin with," he said.

His victim told court she thinks about the attack every day.

"The actual evening ... haunt my thoughts daily," she said.

"I don't know when, or if, this will ever be over for me.

"But thankfully my life will continue on as I don't believe I would be here if I hadn't escaped."

Sentencing submissions from Gendreau, who acted for himself, and Crown prosecutor Gary Cornfield, are now set for Jan. 15.

KEVIN.MARTIN@SUNMEDIA.CA