SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE - Judge Christine Gagnon ordered a 17-year-old to pay a $200 fine in territorial court on Feb. 5 for hanging out a car window on Highway 3 last summer in an attempt to cool off.

Bylaw Const. Daryle Foster represented the City of Yellowknife in the court, and the boy represented himself, with his mother sitting by him for support.

On July 19 at around 2 p.m. three teenage boys in a car were pulled over after a bylaw officer spotted two of them "hanging their torsos out the window," according to Foster.

The vehicle was still within city limits at the time.

The boy on trial was charged with failing to wear a seatbelt. Foster asked for a fine $300 to $500, to serve as a deterrent to such activities. The maximum fine for a youth under this bylaw is $1,000.

"These were not your normal circumstances for not wearing a seatbelt," said Foster.

The boy admitted his actions, as well as the folly of his ways, and said he and his friends were just fooling around.

"We were just having fun. It was hot in the truck," the boy sullenly told Gagnon.

The boy's mother, who said she does not approve of her son hanging out the window of a moving truck, asked Gagnon for a lighter fine of $200.

Gagnon consented, and gave the boy six months to pay it off as he is working part-time while in school.

Woman pleads guilty to punching sleeping man, grabbing testicles

A woman living platonically with a man was fined $1,000 and put on probation for 12 months after assaulting her roommate while he slept last spring.

Another woman living in the same apartment building called police on May 27 saying she heard a disturbance in the residence below her.

According to Crown prosecutor Roger Shepard, the woman heard a dispute and a man saying something to the effect of, "ouch, ouch, ouch."

The police arrived to find the assailant, a 34-year-old woman, intoxicated and asleep.

The man told them he woke up to being punched repeatedly by the woman, who also roughly grabbed his testicles.

She pleaded guilty, though claimed she does not remember the incident.

"(The victim) was assaulted in his own house after taking in a person that needed help," said Shepard.

Judge Christine Gagnon recommended the woman seek counselling.

"On the night of May 27 it seems you drank a lot of alcohol and it brought up something in your brain ... there's something that's bothering you deep inside," said Gagnon, citing four prior violent offences.

The victim also took the stand to make a statement.

"I was shocked when it happened. She's really a nice person but it's the alcohol that causes the problems," said the man.

The assailant claimed she has not drunk alcohol, due to her addiction, since the incident. She also said she is steadily employed.

Gagnon gave her six months to pay the $1,000 fine. The 12 months of probation prohibits her from contacting the victim and the witness who overheard the assault.

Man late for court, but thinks he's early

A man representing himself in court on two counts of assault failed to show up for his trial, slated for 9:30 a.m. on Feb. 4. Judge Christine Gagnon issued a warrant for his arrest - until he showed up at noon, thinking he was early for a trial at 1:30 p.m.

"I must have misinterpreted, or someone said something different," said the man.

Gagnon reminded him that he had the right to a legal aid lawyer, and he said he would consider it. The trial was put off to Feb. 23 at 9:30 p.m.