SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE
An aspiring mixed martial arts fighter was found guilty of assaulting his child's mother Tuesday in territorial court, causing a wound to her foot that required 31 stitches to close.
The woman suffered a large gash, spanning from her ankle down to the top of her foot, and bruising to her arms as well as near her collarbone after a vicious beating precipitated by an argument over unpaid child support. The 30-year-old offender, who is not being named in the interest of protecting the victim's identity, was charged with assault causing bodily harm on Aug. 11.
In explaining how the victim got the injuries, which Judge Bernadette Schmaltz called the most "fantastical, farfetched and preposterous" evidence she has ever heard, the man spun a tale about an outraged superwoman and a scared, panicked man just trying to get away from an attack.
He testified during the February trial that he had visited the victim's apartment on the day of the incident to see his eight-month-old son. While he was there the victim started complaining to him about his financial issues, according to his testimony laid out in court documents.
She eventually became aggressive so he tried to leave, he said, but the victim was standing in front of the door and started pushing him and pulling on his shirt and neck. To get out, he picked her up by the shoulders and moved her to the side of the door, using only enough force to aid his escape, he said. At this time the man was 180 pounds, muscled and training in jujitsu, cage fitness and kickboxing.
He went for the door again but she managed to block it once more. At that point he was in "panic mode" and just had to get away from her so he forced himself through the door, propelling himself into the wall across the hallway.
After that he heard screaming and noticed there was blood all over the place, he testified. So he walked back to see what had happened and found the victim with a large gash on her foot. The victim asked him to take her to the hospital but he refused and she "sprung" up at him. He sprinted for the hallway but she caught up with him and started attacking, he said, adding he got into a defensive position, covered his face and started yelling for help.
When he managed to get away again, he sprinted down the hall towards the fire door where she caught up to him once more, jumped on his back and started ripping out his hair and tearing at his shirt.
In response, he grabbed her by the arm and tossed her over his right shoulder. She fell on her hip, rolled and came at him again, he testified. Next he grabbed her and put her up against the wall but she was biting at his face and trying to knee him in the groin.
At this point he broke for the stairwell and jumped a complete set of stairs. The victim, he said, had him by the shirt however. She was "trying to rip it off me while I was flying through the air," he testified to the court. When he looked up at her she was "literally foaming at the mouth," he said, before recanting this statement during cross-examination. That's when he saw a security camera and said, "That's it. You're ... done. You're on camera" and ran out of there. The man later tried to obtain the video but was told the camera was a "dud," he said.
In her decision, Schmaltz said she did not believe the accused because his testimony was inconsistent and over the top.
"I find (his) evidence is some fantastical fabrication he came up with," she said.
In the victim's version of events the pair started fighting, the man went to the door to leave and she blocked him. So he grabbed her near her throat and pushed her up against a wall, twisting her arm. The accused then opened the door, pulled her into the hall, threw her up against another wall and was screaming at her.
He then began stomping her bare feet with his brown, cork-soled boots. The victim's mother later came out and gave the victim a blanket to wrap her bloody foot in. The victim told the man to take her to the hospital but he refused. She became enraged, wanted to hurt him, hit him and went after him, ripping his shirt. He then ran away and she called him a coward.
The victim's mother testified that she was in the bathroom for most of the incident and came out to find her daughter with a bloody foot.
Schmaltz said she believed the mother and daughter's evidence.
There were very little inconsistency in what the victim said and her evidence was somewhat corroborated by other testimony, Schmaltz said.
The case is scheduled to be back in court for sentencing May 22.
