SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE - A Yellowknife woman caught twice drunk and naked with her pants down, along with other offences, was sentenced to 150 days in jail minus time served in territorial court Dec. 9.

"Parents should not have to be in a position to explain to their children what two drunk people are doing on the McMahon Frame Lake Trail," explained Judge Garth Malakoe.

Malakoe was referring to the woman's earliest offence on a sunny July 16 evening when two RCMP bike patrol officers spotted the couple having sex behind city hall on the Frame Lake Trail at around 6:45 p.m.

Crown prosecutor Danielle Vaillancourt told the court there were several people at the nearby park, some of them families with small children as close as 10 metres from the couple. She explained the two offenders were "heavily" intoxicated at the time.

On Dec. 9, Malakoe sentenced the man, 59, to one year of probation and 50 hours of community service for committing an indecent act in public.

For the woman, 43, this was the first of several offences. On Sept. 1, she was in front of Mildred Hall School when witnesses said she had "gone crazy" with jealousy after seeing her "on again, off again" boyfriend talking to some other women. The "highly intoxicated" woman threw a rock at the man, hitting him in the head, said Vaillancourt. She was arrested for assault the next day.

She was released on the conditions that she abide by a curfew and abstain from alcohol. On Sept. 17, she broke both of these conditions when RCMP officers found her intoxicated in an alley between 52 and 53 Street at 10:20 p.m., wrapped in a blanket and pretending to be asleep. When the officers removed the blanket, they noticed she was "naked from the waist down."

Vaillancourt requested a jail sentence of four to six months based on the offences and on the woman's five previous convictions. Vaillancourt also argued against the court issuing another probation order because of the offender's history of breaking court orders.

The woman's defence lawyer, Tracy Bock, agreed previous probation orders, especially the condition to abstain from alcohol, likely wouldn't work for his client. Rather, Bock sought a probation order that emphasized counselling for her battle with alcohol addiction. Bock argued if his client is jailed, she should be given credit for time already served in Fort Smith and Yellowknife.

Malakoe agreed, and granted her 95 days credit to be subtracted from a 150 day jail sentence.

She was given 30 days for committing an indecent act in public, 90 days for the Sept. 1 assault and 30 days for breaking probation on Sept. 17.

She was also placed on probation for one year and ordered to undergo alcohol counselling.

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