A Windsor woman is having her day in court 27 years after she alleges she was sexually assaulted during a violent home invasion in Windsor.

WARNING: This story contains graphic content that may be disturbing to some readers.

The trial would not be taking place without advances in DNA testing and it's a case that spans the country, as the accused, a former Windsor man, was arrested by the RCMP in British Columbia.

The alleged assault happened in 1990. The alleged victim is a Windsor woman who is now in her 50's.

The man accused of the crime, John Thomas Wuschenny was arrested 26 years later in Burnaby, B.C. and charged with sexual assault with a weapon, break and enter, forcible confinement, disguising with intent and threatening death.

Today the female victim took the stand, defending her allegations for an incident that she says dramatically affected her life.

“A stranger I don't know, broke into my house and sexually assaulted me," she told the court about the alleged attack in September of 1990.

Police say someone broke into the woman’s home on Marentette Avenue and sexually assaulted her.

At the time, Windsor police seized items from inside her bedroom and had them tested for DNA, but they didn't get any matches.

The case went cold until the summer of 2015.

The woman went back to police, inquiring if there was anything they could do to solve it.

Today she told the court "it affected my life for 25 years. My life had changed drastically."

Police re-submitted the items for DNA testing and this time they got a match off the woman's T-shirt.

After a Canada-wide arrest warrant was issued for him, Wuschenny, now 56, was arrested in Burnaby in February of 2016.

Court heard the suspect threatened to kill the woman if she did not perform oral sex or keep her mouth closed when he finished. 

The woman says she told "every police officer that I could." That she spit the semen out of her mouth. A fact defence lawyer Andrew Telford-Keogh says doesn't appear in any police statement until 2016.

“The more traumatic parts, yes, my memory is impaired," the woman admitted, but she insists she told police that exact fact in at least three separate interviews.

The criminal trial will resume with more witness testimony on March 26.

During testimony Friday, court learned the victim has also filed a $2.5-million civil lawsuit against the Windsor Police Services Board and Wuschenny for negligence in not finding the DNA evidence sooner.