SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE - A 32-year-old man was sentenced to 18 months in jail in Supreme Court on Tuesday for an assault on his then-five-month-old child in 2007, which left the child with life-threatening injuries.

"The fact that the offender maintains his innocence is of no consequence," said Justice John Vertes as he handed down his sentence.

The man maintains he accidentally injured the child when he tripped while carrying him. Medical experts, however, raised significant doubt that this type of action would have caused the injuries that were present in the child's brain.

Crown lawyer Shannon Smallwood posed a situation where the man acted rashly, out of frustration, and injured his son who, according to witnesses, had been crying much of the day before the incident.

"It appears he's in denial of the offence," said Smallwood, adding that, to her, the man seemed more upset with his own situation than that of his son, who suffered some problems with communication and motor function in the first two years after the assault but seems to be developing normally at this point.

Vertes showed some compassion toward the man, despite the gravity of the charges. The man has no prior criminal record and has an older son whom, to the court's knowledge, was never abused.

Vertes said the man should have realized the consequences of using force when dealing with an infant, but said he believed the man never meant to injure the child.

"I have no doubt (he) did not mean to harm his child," said Vertes.

On Oct. 22, 2007, the child, bearing visible bruises, was brought into Stanton Territorial Hospital's emergency room by his father. The man told doctors he'd given the child a bottle of milk, left, and returned to the room to find him having a seizure. The child's mother was working a three-week shift at a diamond mine north of Yellowknife at the time.

The child was medevaced to Edmonton where he underwent brain surgery to repair a subdural hematoma, which is pooling of blood between layers of the brain's protective covering.

The child currently lives with his brother and his mother, who separated from the offender after the assault at the urging of Child Services.

The man spoke before Vertes sentenced him. He sounded tired and sad compared to previous times he spoke to the court during the trial, and he laid his hands on the ledge in front of him in the prisoner's box to support him as he spoke.

"I do regret my son's injury and I will abide by whatever the court decides," said the man.

"I just ask that you don't take away my children."

Vertes told him it is not the court's decision to take away any relationship he has or will have with his children.

"Whether you are able to re-establish relationships with your children - and I sincerely hope you are - depends on your children, your wife, possibly Child Services, and most importantly it will depend on you," said Vertes.

The man was given two years less a day, and then two-for-one credit for three months served awaiting sentencing.