SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE - A mild concussion and three stitches to the head was the price a 19-year-old Yellowknife man paid when, according to police, he and his roommate saved a woman from an assault and robbery on 53 Street, Jan. 2.

"He hit me with a full wine bottle," said Andrew Johnson, 19, of the alleged attacker. "The cork was still in it."

It was Johnson who said he first heard the 23-year-old Yellowknife woman cry for help at around 8:30 p.m. while he was in his bedroom watching TV. He looked out the window, which faces 53 Street, and said he saw a "guy standing over a girl" on 53 Street across from the old Le Stock Pot building about a metre from the sidewalk.

"At first, I thought it was a couple having a fight, but regardless, the girl was yelling for help," he said. Johnson and his roommate Vincent Hernot went to the front door, and after hearing the man demand money from the woman, they ran out to help, leaving their jackets behind despite the estimated -19 C temperature.

Hernot, 27, said he yelled at the man when he saw him kneeling behind the woman choking her with his forearm. The man then got up and fled, turning into a parking lot that leads to the back of the NorthwesTel building on Franklin Avenue.

Hernot and Johnson chased after the man. They found the attacker "out of breath" by the blue dumpsters behind the NorthwesTel building. They were holding the man when a yellow Jeep stopped nearby on 52 Street.

"He drove by us, and put (the vehicle) in reverse probably thinking we were beating up some guy," said Hernot.

Hernot asked the driver of the Jeep to call the police as Johnson was holding the man on the sidewalk. Johnson looked away for a moment, and that's when he said the man pulled out a full wine bottle from his coat and cracked him on the head with it. Johnson said the bottle didn't break.

"I didn't get knocked out, (but) I let him go and I was holding my head," said Johnson.

The man tried to escape but Johnson and Hernot caught him again on the sidewalk near the Nova Plaza building.

The whole incident took about 10 minutes, Johnson recalled. Shortly after, the RCMP arrived, made an arrest and took statements from Johnson and Hernot at the detachment.

Johnson, a transportation worker originally from Regina, Sask., and Hernot, a maintenance worker originally from France, both acknowledge they did something important, but said they don't see themselves as heroes.

"I think we did what anyone would have done," said Johnson. "If the same thing was happening to me, I would hope somebody would do the same thing."

"And especially when it's a girl being attacked," added Hernot.

The victim couldn't be reached for comment.

Bobby Robert Zoe, 29, of Behchoko has been charged with assault with a weapon, sexual assault, uttering threats, robbery, choking to overcome resistance and breach of probation. Zoe appeared in court briefly on Jan. 5, where a publication ban identifying the victim was ordered by Judge Robert Gorin. Zoe's next court appearance is Jan. 19, when he is scheduled to enter pleas on the charges.

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