Yellowknife (Feb 28/03) - Harold Ouellette received six months in prison after being convicted for the fifth and sixth times on a drunk driving related charge.

The 41-year-old Yellowknife man is also prohibited from driving for seven years after he is released from prison.

The court heard that Ouellette drove through a stop sign and almost hit a vehicle in Fred Henne Territorial Park last Sept. 7.

Bystanders warned him that young children were in the area but he continued driving and ended up in a ditch.

Police pulled him over soon after his car was pulled out of the ditch.

Ouellette, who has four previous related convictions, was brought back to the police station where he blew 220 milligrams of alcohol per 100 millilitres of blood on the breathalyser, well over the 80 milligram legal limit.

Ouellette was also convicted for failing to provide a breath sample on Feb. 18, after police found him passed out behind the wheel of a van in the downtown liquor store parking lot.

When police helped him out of the van Ouellette showed signs of heavy intoxication but refused to give a breathalyser sample.

Former mine employee convicted

Roger Mackeinzo was convicted of sexual assault after an incident at the Diavik Diamond mine on July 9.

Mackeinzo, who was working at the mine at the time, wrapped his arms around a woman and followed her into her room at the staff living quarters.

The court heard the woman asked Mackeinzo to leave her alone and he shoved her onto the bed, climbed on top of her and started kissing and groping her.

Mackeinzo, who lost his job at Diavik after the incident, received six months in jail.

He currently holds a full-time construction job in Yellowknife. His lawyer asked for a intermittent sentence but Judge Robert Halifax disagreed.

"I don't think an intermittent sentence is in the cards this time," he said.

"This already cost you your job and rightly so. Obviously you can't run an isolated camp with this sort of thing happening and obviously this woman deserves to be protected from you."

Mackeinzo also received one and two month sentences to be served concurrently for failing to appear.

Belligerent man carrying pot

Perhaps David Austin should have quit while he was ahead.

The Yellowknife man was convicted for possession of a controlled substance and received a $1,000 fine.

The charges arose on Aug. 31 when Austin was kicked out of the Gold Range Cafe. He kept coming back in and cafe staff called the RCMP. When police arrived and asked Austin to leave the cafe, he became belligerent and combative, the court heard.

Police arrested Austin and found a total of 14.5 grams of marijuana in 19 tinfoil wrapped packets in his jacket pocket.

"If this keeps happening you're going to wind up in custody and you won't have a job," said Judge Robert Halifax.