Daniel MacIsaac
Northern News Services

NNSL (Jan 29/99) - A Yellowknife man with a record of criminal convictions stretching back 25 years was convicted on four counts of theft in territorial court on Tuesday and sentenced to a total of nine months in prison.

He was also ordered to pay more than $1,000 in restitution and sentenced to a one-year period of probation that will include counselling.

The charges stem from a series of thefts involving two jackets, a generator and groceries earlier this month. Court learned that the Bata/Athlete's World store was tipped off to the theft of a jacket Jan. 7 when the accused tried to sell it on the street to a store employee on his way to work.

Defence counsel told the court the accused, an admitted cocaine user, stole the Wal-Mart jacket for warmth and $40 worth of steaks and ribs from the Frame Lake South Extra Foods store because he was hungry.

"It's amazing how when they're hungry, everybody wants to take the best," said Chief Justice Robert Halifax.

"You have a cocaine problem," Halifax told the accused, "and to be quite frank, I don't think the businesses of Yellowknife should be supporting it."

As part of his probation the 41-year-old will be banned from the businesses he robbed.

Impaired driver to serve eight months

A 30-year-old man who the Crown said had been described as "an accident waiting to happen" was convicted on two counts of impaired driving in territorial court on Tuesday and sentenced by Judge Halifax to a total of eight months imprisonment and a prohibition from driving for three years.

The Crown said aggravating circumstances included the facts that the accused had three prior impaired-driving convictions and that the latest charges stemmed from back-to-back incidents Jan. 16 and 17. In the latter case, the accused had a blood-alcohol reading of 280, more than three times the legal limit.

"If this happens again, the Crown said it will proceed with indictment, and you're looking at three to five years," Halifax said in conclusion.

A 34-year-old Yellownife woman was convicted in territorial court on Tuesday on charges of assault and mischief, stemming from an incident at Fraser Towers apartment building in November.

Crown attorney Sandra Aitken described how the accused and her sister allegedly assaulted a tenant -- grabbing her by the chain around her neck and then punching her -- after the woman asked them to leave the building where they had been singing and making noise. The defence counsel said the sisters had been celebrating and that the accused had "blacked out" and had no recollection of the events.

Judge Halifax fined the accused a total of $600, plus a 15 per cent victim surcharge and ordered her to pay $644.27 in restitution for a window she broke and to abstain from consuming or possessing alcohol for a six-month probationary period.

In passing sentence, Halifax said to the woman, who is currently pursuing her studies, "It's easier to learn when you're sober."