Judge delays sentencing sex attacker with troubled past
Man beats and sexually assaults former girlfriend 16 days after release from jail
Kirsten Fenn
Northern News Services
Friday, December 9, 2016
SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE
Sentencing for a man who beat his former girlfriend to keep her from running away before sexually assaulting her has been delayed while a judge decides whether the man's horrific past should factor into his sentence.
"It's a very serious case and I want to make sure I have all the information," Supreme Court Justice Louise Charbonneau said in court Monday.
The 33-year-old man pleaded guilty in August to sexually assaulting the woman inside a tent in a secluded area of Yellowknife on Sept. 28, 2014, according to an agreed statement of facts read in court. The two had been drinking heavily that night and the woman blacked out. When she awoke feeling scared and unsafe, she tried to leave.
The man pulled her by her hair to keep her inside the tent, hitting her face and holding her on the ground as she cried and told him to stop assaulting her. She was left with bruises to her arms, legs, face and neck.
Yellowknifer is not identifying the man to protect the identity of the victim. He has been in custody since Sept. 29, 2014 after being charged with sexual assault, forcible confinement and overcoming resistance. The latter two charges were later withdrawn.
The offender has a criminal record and a previous history of violence against the woman, including two assaults and a third assault causing bodily harm from April 2014, according to Crown prosecutor Alex Godfrey. He had been serving time at North Slave Correctional Centre for the most recent assault before he was released from custody on Sept. 12, 2014.
Sixteen days later, he beat and sexually assaulted the same woman. In a victim impact statement read in court, the woman said she didn't know what to do with her life after the sexual assault. She said she wanted to give up on life at one point and that she fears she could be hurt again.
She wonders if the accused is "out looking for me to hurt me," the statement read.
Godfrey and defence lawyer Peter Harte submitted a joint recommendation for sentencing, asking that the man serve three and one quarter years of jail time, provide a DNA sample, be listed on the sex offender registry for 20 years and face a weapons ban for at least 10 years.
Charbonneau expressed concern that the recommended sentence was too low given the man's history of violent crime. According to the pre-sentencing report, he has been in and out of jail for the last seven years.
"This is not an isolated incident," Charbonneau said, at one point calling the joint recommendation for the man's sentence "out of line," given the seriousness of the incident.
She also raised concerns about public safety were the man to be released.
Harte suggested his client's history of trauma should be taken into account and asked for a chance to obtain more information about the counseling his client is taking part in at jail. The man has been meeting weekly with a psychologist there since May.
According to the pre-sentencing report, the accused has consumed alcohol and drugs since a young age and huffed propane at "every chance," starting when he was 17, to cope with the death of two of his brothers, and other cousins and friends who all died by suicide.
Harte implied the man's history could have something to do with substantial inconsistencies in his accounting of the sexual assault and other comments he made about the case. The offender said he would not be able to comply with a condition not to contact the complainant, and that he felt pressure from her father to stay in a relationship with her - a statement Harte said didn't make sense.
The pre-sentencing report recommended a period of probation be included with any sentence handed to the man, to ensure he gets counselling to deal with childhood trauma and violence in intimate relationships.
Harte said the goal of obtaining information about his client's counselling in jail is to gain a better understanding of "what's going on in his head."
The case was adjourned until Dec. 19, when the judge could hear more information from the defence and set a new date for sentencing.
