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MITTIMATALIK/POND INLET - A man who sped around Pond Inlet drunk on a snowmobile and broke into a home while a family was sleeping will spend another four-and-a-half months in jail in Iqaluit.

Reuben Sangoya, 29, was sentenced on June 21 for dangerous operation of a motor vehicle, breaking and entering and other crimes.

"He acted like a drunk foolish teenager," said defence lawyer Andrew Mahar at the Nunavut Court of Justice in Iqaluit.

The court heard from Crown attorney Doug Garson about how on May 5 at 2:50 p.m., police in Pond got a call about a man driving dangerously on a snowmobile. Police followed him to a house. Sangoya knocked down the door and banged on the master bedroom door where the occupants were sleeping. Garson said Sangoya was looking for his girlfriend. He broke down the door of the sewing room and smashed a television.

Sangoya got back on his snowmobile and drove through a stop sign and a four-way stop with children nearby.

The man then tried to enter another residence and the chase continued. He was later apprehended and arrested.

"People expect to feel safe in their home and (they) were in quite a state of discomfort," said Garson.

He also made reference to Sangoya's lengthy criminal record.

In 2002, Sangoya was convicted of discharging a firearm with intent as he borrowed two guns, shot at the windows and doors of two RCMP houses and the detachment. He narrowly missed a guard. He also fired 35 other shots, including pointing his gun towards a 15-year-old, barely missing him and another youth. He did shoot a dog. One of the shots penetrated the bedroom of a house where a six-year-old child was playing. He served five years in prison for those offences.

In 2004, Sangoya assaulted an officer and in 2008 he was convicted for robbery and served three years at a federal penitentiary.

Mahar said his client drank two mickeys of home-brewed moonshine.

He said Justice Sue Cooper should not hold the fact he has been in a federal penitentiary for nine out of the last 10 years against him.

"That doesn't mean the hammer has to fall harder on him than on anyone else," Mahar said.

During this time, Mahar said Sangoya was with "the most dangerous individuals in Canadian society" and he never received any counselling.

Mahar asked Cooper to "sentence (Sangoya) for what he did and not who he is."

Before the sentence, Sangoya stood up and addressed the court. He said his grandmother is still alive but is ill and that he wants to see her.

"Will I be able to get counselling and treatment before I go home?," he asked.

Cooper advised Sangoya if he wanted to help his grandmother he should stop breaking the law.

In addition to his six weeks already served, he received 18 months probation, cannot drive any vehicle for a year and has to do 30 hours of community service.

"There are people in Pond Inlet who perhaps shun you but it doesn't mean it can't be overcome and you haven't earned that trust from the people of Pond Inlet," the judge said.

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