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SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE
A Fort Good Hope resident has a few more months of jail time to serve for his part in a group assault on another man in a fight over cigarettes and for another unrelated assault.

At a party in Fort Good Hope on Nov. 6 the one man asked a fellow partygoer for a cigarette but he refused, leaving the party shortly after. When the fellow partygoer left he was followed by the man and his friend. Together they beat him, punching and kicking him repeatedly.

The offender in question, Dan Lennie, also joined in the beating, which left the victim with blurred vision, cuts on his face, swelling around the eyes and back pain, said Crown prosecutor Jen Bond, during Lennie's court proceedings held in Yellowknife. No reason was given as to what compelled Lennie to join in the beating.

The victim was taken to Inuvik Regional Hospital and later transported to Yellowknife. He has since recovered.

Lennie, 27, pleaded guilty to a charge of assault in this case last week. Myles Lennie and a youth are also charged in relation to the incident. The youth can't be named because he is charged under the Youth Criminal Justice Act, which protects the identity of the accused.

Myles Lennie is set to appear in court on May 30 in Fort Good Hope while the youth's trial date could not be confirmed by press time.

On May 16 Dan Lennie also pleaded guilty to an assault charge from an unrelated incident on Aug. 12, 2011.

Regarding the latter incident, Lennie was drinking and talking with two friends when he became upset and turned violent. Lennie punched a female friend in the face and grabbed her hair when she tried to get away, said Bond. The incident left the woman with a deep cut over her eyebrow and two black eyes, Bond added.

Defence lawyer Stephen Shabala agreed with the facts presented by the Crown.

Lennie told the court he is truly sorry for his actions. He said he has a lot of built up anger from his childhood, citing family violence and being sexually assaulted by a family friend.

"I grew up in a life of violence, a life of pain," he said, crying. "I'm still trying to recover from everything that happened."

Judge Christine Gagnon sentenced Lennie to six months in jail for the Nov. 6 assault and five months in jail for the assault on Aug. 12, 2011. Lennie was also convicted of failing to appear in court, for which he was given one day in jail. The judge took 189 days off Lennie's sentence for the time he served in jail while awaiting trial.

Gagnon advised Lennie to seek counselling and rehabilitation services at the South Mackenzie Correctional Centre in Hay River, where he'll serve his sentence by request.

"You're not a bad person but you make bad decisions ... You have got to stop that before you do something you will sincerely regret for the rest of your life," Gagnon said. "I understand why there is a lot of anger inside. It may take some time before you can be at peace."

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