SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE - A 44-year-old man caught driving erratically during morning rush-hour traffic in Yellowknife a year and a half ago complained of being urinated on while in jail.

In territorial court Feb. 25, the judge sentenced him to no additional jail time beyond the two weeks he had already served awaiting his day in court.

Defence lawyer Jay Bran told of his client Craig Bertil Stromberg's time at North Slave Correctional Centre prior to sentencing for a charge of refusing a breathalyzer. While behind bars, Stromberg was crammed in a cell with two other inmates in the 20-hour lock-down unit, and how he only had a mattress on the floor to sleep on, Bran said. The mattress was near the toilet, and Stromberg complained of being "pissed on" when the other inmates used the toilet.

Recounting the facts of Stromberg's crime, Crown prosecutor Marc Lecorre said on July 23, 2009, at 7:45 a.m. the Yellowknife RCMP received a complaint of a grey Volkswagen car with four people in it driving erratically down Kam Lake Road near the Multiplex, headed for Franklin Avenue. The complainant said he had to swerve off Kam Lake Road to avoid the car striking his vehicle. The RCMP stopped the vehicle in an alley near the Northern Heights building on 49 Street.

Lecorre said the vehicle had no licence plates, and, after stopping the driver, officers smelled alcohol coming from the vehicle. They could see several empty beer cans on the floor of the passenger's side and the backseat floor. They also noticed Stromberg had red, glossy eyes and was slurring his speech. When asked if he had been drinking, Stromberg replied he had "one beer," said Lecorre.

After failing the roadside breath screening test, Stromberg was taken to the Yellowknife RCMP detachment where he refused to provide a breathalyzer sample, saying "it would come out in court."

Lecorre requested a jail sentence of four to six months and a five-year driving ban from Judge Christine Gagnon. Lecorre cited three prior convictions for drunk driving on the man's criminal record - in 1985, 1988 and 1994. From this he deduced that Stromberg was a "habitual" drunk driver and on that morning it was "only through luck" that no one was hurt or killed.

Bran asked the judge to consider his client's recent back operation which has left him with difficulty moving around and sleeping.

Bran also commented on Lecorre's notion that his client is a "habitual" drunk driver, saying that given the gaps in his record and the date of his last conviction, "we'd better watch out when the year 2024 comes around."

The defence asked the court for a 30-day jail sentence with two-for-one credit for time served since his client was re-arrested and jailed on Feb. 11, 2011. Bran also asked the court to impose a two-year driving ban and a $1,500 fine.

Gagnon agreed in part with the recommendation and sentenced the man to 30 days in jail with two-for-one credit on his sentence, which added up to time already served in jail. She also banned Stromberg from driving for three years and fined him $1,500 with eight months to pay.

Stromberg, who now lives in Nanaimo, B.C., lived in Hay River for 35 years. It wasn't revealed in court why he was driving in Yellowknife that morning.