SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE - A man who pleaded guilty to putting one of his infant children in the refrigerator and strangling the other nearly to death will serve 16 months in jail.

The man pleaded guilty to three counts of aggravated assault in Supreme Court in Yellowknife on Jan. 27.

Both children were under a year old when they were abused.

"I find it truly difficult to comprehend how someone who has brought infant children into the world could be so callous, selfish, and amoral to ... injure them to the point where their lives were in jeopardy," said Judge Donald Cooper.

The 27-year-old man also assaulted his wife during her pregnancy, according to the agreed statement of facts in court.

His daughter was brought into an NWT health facility on Oct. 1 2008 with pneumonia. Doctors then discovered the baby's ribs were fractured and requested to see her twin brother, whose ribs they found to be fractured as well.

In addition to regularly picking the children up roughly, the father had once strangled his male child to the point of unconsciousness, and his wife had to revive the infant with CPR. In another instance, the man put his infant daughter in the refrigerator for 10 seconds. He also constantly threatened to kill his wife and burn the house down with everyone in it.

In the pre-sentence report, the man's wife said that after the twins were apprehended by child services, the man had apparently believed the police had tapped his phone and therefore he did not allow his wife to make calls.

Cooper said the pre-sentence report contained much "information of a damning nature," and an RCMP said after the man admitted to the crimes, his "remorse was a smokescreen" and he was apparently more remorseful for getting caught than harming his children.

"He was indifferent to the harm he was causing," said Cooper.

The man was sentenced to 36 months but was credited 20 months for time he spent in jail prior to his court sentencing. He is banned from having firearms for 10 years and his DNA will be put on file.

The judge recommended his time be served in the NWT.