Fort Good Hope (Sep 06/04) - A Fort Good Hope man was sentenced to three years in jail last week for stabbing an acquaintance to death in front of the man's son.

Darnell Noel Kakfwi, 19, pleaded guilty to manslaughter Monday in Fort Good Hope, in connection with the Dec. 28 slaying of Jeffrey Kelly, a well-known carver.

Kakfwi admitted to stabbing Kelly through the heart with a serrated 12-inch knife after the two became involved an alcohol-fueled argument, the court heard.

On the night of the stabbing, Kakfwi was staying at his aunt's house along with two young cousins, one of whom was Kelly's son.

Kakfwi and Kelly were both drinking heavily when they began to argue, eventually stumbling through the small house and into the bedroom of Kelly's 13-year-old son.

In a letter to the court, Kelly's mother Margaret said the killing left her family "in shock."

"There is not a day that goes by that my husband and I do not cry," she wrote. "I don't know if I will ever forgive this boy for taking my son's life."

Beatrice Kakfwi, Darnell's aunt and mother of the victim's son, said the stabbing was out of character for her nephew.

"I have known Darnell all his life and would characterize him to be a loving, caring and good-hearted young man," she wrote in a letter to the court.

Minus time in custody

NWT Supreme Court Justice Ted Richard sentenced Kakfwi to four and a half years in prison, minus the time he spent in custody awaiting trial.

Richard also recommended Kakfwi serve his time at the North Slave Correctional Centre, as opposed to a southern penitentiary.

Kakfwi was originally charged with second degree murder.