Amanda Vaughan
Northern News Services
Published Friday, September 7, 2007

YELLOWKNIFE - A Yellowknife man is going back to jail for five months after breaking probation, merely a week after being released from prison.

A 30-year-old man appeared in court for sentencing Tuesday after contacting a woman with whom he was ordered not to communicate.

He had been previously convicted of assaulting the woman and was only out of jail for several days when, the lawyers agreed, he shouted at her window, calling out for her boyfriend to come and fight him. Crown counsel Christine Gagnon recommended more jail time, stating that the complainant "had expressed she is scared of the accused."

After his defence counsel, Dan Rideout, had made an argument for intermittent jail allowing his client to work. The man read out an apology which contradicted the admitted facts of the case. "I only approached (the victim) to get my workboots," Gordon said in court.

Judge Gorin refused to take into account Gordon's statement at the sentencing, telling him, "You cannot admit the facts and then make a statement like that."

Three times the limit

A 41-year-old Yellowknife woman is prohibited from driving for a year after being caught with almost five times the legal limit of alcohol in her bloodstream.

In the reading of the facts, Crown counsel Christine Gagnon stated that the RCMP was alerted to a possible intoxicated driver in the parking lot of the downtown liquor store. RCMP officers located the vehicle and followed the woman to the front of Rockridge Apartments before stopping her. They took a breath sample, and the readings indicated that the woman had a blood alcohol level of 240 milligrams per 100 millilitres of blood, well over the limit of 50.

The woman had no prior impaired driving convictions, and Gagnon mentioned the only aggravating factor was the excessive intoxication. Judge Robert Gorin sentenced the woman to a one-year driving prohibition, and fining her $1,000.

Bowling league bandit relocates

Former president of the Yellowknife Zone 5-Pin Bowling Association, Robert Noftle is trying to have his court proceedings transferred to Newfoundland, where he resides. Noftle was convicted of defrauding the association of more than $26,000 in February of 2006. Noftle is now facing new charges of failure to comply with an order of his probation, after the association reported that the June 30 payment was not made.