SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE
Cries of joy and heavy sighs of relief filled a crowded courtroom yesterday as convicted murderer David Harrison was sentenced to life imprisonment and 13 years without eligibility for parole.

David Richard Harrison, 30, is brought to the courthouse in 2012 after being charged for the murder of Yvonne Desjarlais. Harrison was sentenced to life imprisonment without eligibility for parole for 13 years, on Tuesday. - NNSL file photo

Last month, Harrison, 30, pleaded guilty to second degree murder after strangling Yvonne Desjarlais on the evening of Dec. 29, 2012.

NWT Supreme Court Justice Shannon Smallwood called the crime a "random, senseless tragedy" and said Harrison's tendency to be aggressive throughout his life showed he was "a violent person" and a danger to the public. She noted his criminal record of 32 convictions stretching back to the late nineties.

"It leads me to conclude Mr. Harrison is a violent person and the security of the public needs to be considered a factor," she said.

Sometime in the late night of Dec. 29 or early morning of Dec. 30, 2012, Desjarlais, 63, of Lutselk'e, was walking from a party at the Northern Lites Motel toward the women's shelter on Franklin Avenue when she encountered Harrison. The young man invited her to drink beer inside Le Stock Pot, then located on 53 Street.

Court heard Harrison had been working on renovations in the building and had access. Desjarlais accepted the invite and went inside. After she indicated she wanted to leave, Harrison became agitated and strangled her to death. He left her body in a nearby alley where she was discovered later that morning.

Harrison was not arrested until July 2013 when DNA evidence linked him to the victim.

Numerous members of Desjarlais' family, between 30 and 40 people, including children, siblings and extended family filled the courtroom.

"I feel sad alright," said Yvonne's older brother Alfred Desjarlais. "It is so good he got life. I can't describe how I feel."

Alice Joyce who knew Desjarlais from the women's shelter said she was very satisfied with the verdict. As she waited for Harrison to be taken by the RCMP to jail, Joyce said she regarded Desjarlais as a mother or a sister figure and knew her close to 20 years.

"I hate to say I'm happy, but I'm happy because I think he deserved it," she said. "It could happen to anyone like me on the streets. I'm happy they sentenced him because us women don't deserve this."

During Tuesday's sentencing, Harrison, dressed in a green plaid dress shirt, sat in the glass prisoner's box next to an RCMP officer with his back to the gallery. When asked by Justice Shannon Smallwood if he had anything to say, he answered: "No."

On Monday, defence attorney Caroline Wawzonek said that Harrison took responsibility for his actions and that she was seeking 10 years before he could apply for parole.

Wawzonek made the case that Harrison had a history of psychiatric challenges and anger in his life, including being assessed in 2000 with attention-deficit disorder, borderline "mental retardation" and "intermittent explosive disorder." She argued with proper treatment, Harrison can be stable.

She said he was adopted into a family with seven other children and his parents had done as much as possible through his life to deal with his mental illness, learning disability and anger issues.

She said it was possible that Harrison could one day be a benefit to the community because he showed signs of remorse for what he had done and his actions stemmed from impulse and mental health challenges, rather than premeditation or "gratuitous violence."

"He is someone who can return something to society ... if he is (someday) granted parole," she said.

Crown prosecutor Marc Lecorre said he thought Smallwood took all relevant factors into account to come to a "fair and just outcome." This included that alcohol was a factor and that Desjarlais was vulnerable in a building alone with a bigger man.

"This was the killing of a vulnerable woman and (Smallwood) took into account that the crime had to be denounced and that there had to be a general denunciation to anyone that would contemplate hurting a woman," he said.

- with files from James Goldie

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