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INUVIK - An Inuvik man has been sentenced to 13 months in jail after pleading guilty to twice assaulting his spouse in violent incidents.

The 26-year-old man was sentenced in Territorial Court in Yellowknife on Oct. 29 after admitting to beating his spouse with a table leg, which caused massive amounts of bleeding on Aug. 19, 2007.

He also hit her in the head, stepped on her throat, chased her into the street and tore off some of her clothing. The Crown read the facts of the case, noting the woman's blood-soaked bra was later recovered at a nearby intersection. The man fled the scene when people passing by stopped to help his spouse and called the RCMP.

As well, he pleaded guilty to assaulting his spouse a second time on March 15, 2008. His spouse had picked him up because she wanted to get him to stop drinking. When the couple arrived home, the man again beat the woman by smashing her head into a wall and punching and kneeing her in the back of the head.

In addition to convictions for assault and assault with a weapon, the man was also convicted of breaching the terms of his probation and failure to attend court.

Defence attorney Dan Rideout said the man's spouse had contacted him "wondering how she could lend her support."

The man spoke briefly saying he was "sorry for everything that happened."

"The facts of the assault are extremely serious," said Judge Robert Gorin.

He added during the second assault the woman "thought she was going to die."

The man was sentenced to seven months for the assault, assault with a weapon charges and six additional months for the other charges.