Yellowknife (Oct 03/03) - A 39-year-old Alberta man was sentenced to a year prison for slashing a woman across the face with a knife.

Crow attorney Sandra Aitken said Jack Noksana, 39, became upset when the victim answered his romantic advances with a slap to the face and kick to the groin.

Noksana, who was visiting Yellowknife, threw her to the ground and slashed her across the jaw, opening a wound that required several stitches.

He was convicted of assault earlier this summer, but did not attend the trial.

It was Noksana¼s ninth conviction for a violent offence. „I have no recollection (of the crime),¾ he told the court. „I¼m trying to make a better life for me and family. I ask for leniency and grace.¾

Judge Michel Bourassa was not impressed.

„He shows no remorse and there is a pattern of violence.¾