by Chris Meyers Almey
Northern News Services

NNSL (May 16/97) - A recent Arctic College graduate was sentenced last week to three years in jail after an NWT Supreme Court jury found him guilty of sexual assault.

Styd William Klugie, 26, denied on the witness stand pulling the woman's pants off as she slept and having sexual intercourse with her.

He said the 20-year-old woman had taken her own pants off. He admitted having sex, but said she consented to the act in Yellowknife last Oct. 5.

Defence counsel Tom Boyd, meanwhile, tried to paint the victim as "as a tough, young lady" who was not emotional on the stand, was well balanced and adjusted and had in all respects seemed to have got on with her life.

"It's not a situation of someone being devastated and not being able to get on with their existence," Boyd said in his argument for a light sentence.

The Crown said the victim and her roommate felt sorry for Klugie and let him stay the night.

When the woman woke and found him on top of her she pushed him off, but he lay beside her again while she slept. She said she felt dirty as a result of the attack as Klugie has a sexually transmitted disease and she had trouble sleeping for a month after.

But Boyd pointed out that Klugie was so worried about the woman he contacted health officials and named her as a sexual contact. Tests later proved negative for chlamydia.

"He stuck his neck out in concern for the complainant," said Boyd, because if Klugie hadn't testified the Crown could have used the medical document to prove he had intercourse with the woman.

Klugie just graduated from Arctic College in Iqaluit with a certificate in environmental technology. A member of the First Nation at Fort Resolution, was about to start a job in the area in his new field, Boyd said.

A Supreme Court judge recommended Klugie serve his sentence in the North rather than a southern penitentiary, and be eligible for early release, but those decisions rest with Corrections Canada officials.